Chelsea’s 2023-2024 season under the new management of Mauricio Pochettino has been marked by highs and lows, showcasing both promise..

The post Chelsea 2023/24 Season Review: A Rollercoaster Ride appeared first on Chelsea FC Blog.

Guest post by Dr. Melissa Betters Are you afraid of the deep, dark ocean? If so, you’re not alone. Thalassophobia (fear of deep water) seems…

The post  The Cost of Fear: How Perceptions of the Deep Sea Hurt Conservation first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Rapport is something we all seek, even if we don’t think about it every day. It’s that sense of connection, of feeling understood, and of moving smoothly with others in sync. Whether in our professional lives or at home, rapport matters—and it matters a lot more than we might realize. In today’s fast-paced, digital world, ... Read more

The post Mastering Rapport: Overcoming Challenges in Digital and In-Person Communication appeared first on LifeHack.

Self-love is a topic we hear about often, but putting it into practice can feel elusive, like trying to hold onto something that keeps slipping away. You know it’s there, but it’s hard to hold on to. The concept of self-love involves valuing oneself and letting go of toxic influences. It’s about stepping back from ... Read more

The post A Guide to Self-Love: From Overcoming Doubt to System-Based Growth appeared first on LifeHack.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Geraldine Ditta from Alzheimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. People living with dementia are at risk of becoming socially isolated and disconnected from their local communities. Reactions from others on being told someone has dementia can have a significant impact on the person with dementia’s sense of self. This study sought to explore the perceptions of people with dementia in relation to attitudes within their communities and how they subsequently respond. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to examine how they feel about their lives with dementia.

Guest: Mike McCormick, "Joe Biden Unauthorized"

Journalist Elizabeth Nickson, MK Ultra and other Reindeer Games

By Sara Truuvert

Sweaty palms, shaking limbs, and the distinct possibility of puking. Am I describing riding a rollercoaster or having a crush in middle school? These two thrill rides collide in Jake Maia Arlow's MG debut Almost Flying.

The novel follows thirteen-year-old Dalia, who has planned the perfect summer: finally ride a rollercoaster and make a new best friend. But when Dalia's dad announces he is engaged and expects Dalia to bond with her soon-to-be stepsister, Alexa, Dalia thinks her summer plans are shot. Luckily, Alexa agrees to take Dalia and Rani, a new girl from Dalia's swim team, on an amusement park road trip. What should be a smooth week takes a turn when Dalia realizes she might have more-than-friend feelings for Rani. Almost Flying launched on June 8th, 2021 with Dial Books and is widely available to order.

Jake Maia Arlow is a writer, podcast producer (listen to her work on shows like NPR's Invisibilia), bagel connoisseur, and co-writer of a musical about a gay demon competing in a reality TV show. You can find out more about Jake on her website, Twitter, and YouTube channel. Watch for her YA debut, How To Excavate A Heart launching from HarperTeen in 2022.

Q. A huge congratulations on your MG debut! Your protagonist Dalia is thirteen, which is such a weird, wild, sometimes(?) wonderful age. Did that time in your own life influence this story?

A. Thank you so much! That time in my own life absolutely influenced this story—mostly in that I was a complete weirdo in middle school. And while I wasn’t brave enough or self-aware enough to understand my own early queer feelings, I was so deeply idiosyncratic that I could write 1,000 middle grade novels and never touch on all of my bizarre behavior. For example: I wore mismatched toe socks to school every. Single. Day. 

Q. I love how unique Dalia is—for starters, she absolutely loves watching rollercoaster POVs (but would rather keep this hobby to herself!). Would you speak a bit about developing Dalia’s character?

A. Developing her character was one of the most exciting parts of the writing process, because it involved watching a ton of rollercoaster POV videos! Part of my process included taking notes on different POV videos in Dalia’s voice—some of those early free-writes even made it into the novel in various forms. It’s hard for me to start writing before I know a character’s voice, but Dalia’s came very naturally to me. She’s an anxious queer Jew from Long Island … just like me haha!

Q. Dalia has to navigate some complicated feelings she develops for her friend Rani. Did you map out the trajectory of their relationship before you began writing? Or was it more a matter of seeing where your writing took you?

A. I knew that Dalia had a crush on Rani from the very beginning, but it took me a few rounds of edits to realize that Rani also had a crush on Dalia from the start. Dalia overthinks everything, and even though Rani gives her some pretty clear signals, she doesn’t pick up on them. It was really more of a discovery writing process than I thought it would be!

Q. Do you have any writing routines or rituals that help you get into a good workflow?

A. Oooh, I love this question! I always have rain sounds playing in the background, regardless of whether or not it’s actually raining outside. Other than that, I do the pomodoro method (25 minutes of writing with a five minute break) and I try to have a friend around so I can bounce ideas off of them! 

Q. You have a helpful (and funny) post on your website about the process of getting your agent, which, understandably, involved a fair amount of nerves and panic. What would you say to an author who feels daunted by the idea of starting this process?

A. I’m thrilled that someone has read that! My advice is always to be over prepared. I am almost chronically over prepared because of my anxiety, but in this case it served me well. Listen to podcasts, read sample query letters, read the acknowledgements of your favorite books. There are so many incredible resources that you never have to go through this alone. 

Q. Do you have any advice for young writers?

A. YES! So many people like to say “read,” which is awesome advice, and you should absolutely do that, but my other piece of advice is to WRITE! Write in a journal, write your earth-shattering novel idea on a Google Doc and share it with friends, write recipes, write spells. Write anything and everything. At the very least, you’ll have something to look back on. 

Q. Finally, I understand that both you and Dalia are bagel connoisseurs. I must know, what separates a great bagel from a good bagel?

A. This is the greatest question I’ve ever been asked. First of all, if a bagel isn’t boiled, it’s not a real bagel— it’s just a piece of bread with a hole in the center. But other than that, a great bagel is freshly made, a little warm on the inside; it’s chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. And, most importantly, a great bagel is one that you eat with friends and family. 

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Sara Truuvert completed her MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews. She also holds a Certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers and a BA in English, Drama, and the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Toronto. Her work has appeared in the Literary Review of Canada among other publications.

For more interviews, see the Inkygirl Interview Archive. Also see Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators, a compilation of tips generously offered by children's book creators Inkygirl.com has interviewed over the years.

INTERPOL on Tuesday said it took down more than 22,000 malicious servers linked to various cyber threats as part of a global operation. Dubbed Operation Synergia II, the coordinated effort ran from April 1 to August 31, 2024, targeting phishing, ransomware, and information stealer infrastructure. "Of the approximately 30,000 suspicious IP addresses identified, 76 per cent were taken down and 59

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new phishing campaign that spreads a new fileless variant of known commercial malware called Remcos RAT. Remcos RAT "provides purchases with a wide range of advanced features to remotely control computers belonging to the buyer," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Xiaopeng Zhang said in an analysis published last week. "However, threat actors have

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New paper from Princeton team challenges the conventional wisdom of superconducting quantum transitions.

Euphoric Whispers This event is free, but a ticket is required to attend. To reserve a ticket, use the University Ticketing website. This concert features a rare NJ appearance of Ali Akbar Moradi and Pejman Hadadi, two of Iran’s most renowned musicians. Moradi is the greatest living master of the tanbour, an ancient 2-stringed long-necked fretted lute traditionally used in religious ceremonies. Hadadi is the innovative percussionist (tombak, daf) who has been a member of the Dastan Ensemble for over 20 years and has collaborated with countless master musicians in Persian and world traditions. They will perform ecstatic and trance-inducing Kurdish music from western Iran – music that is little known in the US. Featured are meditative improvisations based on the repertoire of the Yarsan people, and the beauty and complexities of the art of this region. “Love, spirituality, intoxication with the divine and the power of music…With one string providing a drone, everything else rides on a single string of the tanbour, and in Mr. Moradi’s hands, that string encompasses an expressive universe.” - New York Times "The masterful Hadadi delivers an astonishing array of sounds." - Los Angeles Times Aliakbar Moradi Aliakbar Moradi, often hailed as “the best tanbour player alive” (Songlines Magazine, Issue 26, 2004), was born in 1957 in Guran, near Kermanshah, the central city of Kermanshah Province, Iran. Encouraged by his grandfather and father, he began studying the Tanbur at the age of six. Under the guidance of masters such as Sayyed Hachem Kafashyan, Sayed Mahmoud Alavi, Ali Mir Darvishi, Allah Morad Hamidi, and Sayyed Vali Hosseyni, he not only mastered the instrument but also delved deeply into the Kurdish maqam repertoire. Moradi gave his first recital at the age of 14 in Kermanshah. A year later, he established the first Tanbur group within the cultural department of Kermanshah. He then embarked on tours across Iran and later co-founded the renowned Shams Tanbur Ensemble. In 1991, he won first prize at the String Instrument Festival. Starting in 1992, he conducted extensive research on the ancient maqams of the Tanbur, resulting in a significant publication: a set of four CDs and a booklet released in 2002 by Maison des Cultures du Monde. Over the years, Moradi has published more than 23 recordings and books. He has collaborated with numerous esteemed musicians, including Shahram Nazeri, Kaykhosro Pournazeri, Kayhan Kalhor, Ardeshir and Bijan Kamkar, Pejman Hadadi, Erdal Erzincan, Ulaş Özdemir, Pezhham Akhavass, Mehdi Bagheri, and Arash and Kourosh Moradi. In addition to his research, recordings, and performances, Moradi teaches Tanbur in Tehran and Kermanshah. Currently residing in Kurdistan, Iran, he founded the cultural center The House of Tanbur in Guran. This center offers year-round music classes and hosts annual Tanbur and Kurdish music festivals to preserve and promote the rich cultural heritage of the region. Pejman Hadadi Pejman Hadadi, a renowned percussionist from Tehran, Iran, began his musical journey at age 10, studying under Master Tombak player Assadollah Hejazi. Influenced by greats like Bahman Rajabi and Hossein Tehrani, he later mastered the Daf, inspired by Bijan Kamkar’s recordings. Moving to the US in 1989, Pejman began his professional career in 1991, collaborating with notable musicians such as Hossein Alizadeh, AliAkbar Moradi, Kayhan Kalhor, Shahram Nazeri, and joining the Dastan Ensemble in 1995. He co-founded ZARBANG, the pioneering Iranian percussion ensemble, in 2000. Pejman’s innovative techniques on the Tombak, including tunable frame drums, and his partnership with REMO to develop synthetic-skin Dafs, have significantly expanded the instruments’ global reach. Dedicated to education, he established Neyreez World Music Institute and has received the Durfee Foundation Master Musician Award twice. Pejman’s compositions span dance and film, including soundtracks for Prince of Egypt and Prince of Persia.

Imagine waking up one morning, the sun streaming through your window, and you reach out for that warm cup of coffee. As your body moves, you feel a tug in your muscles, a reminder of just how stiff and restricted movement can become over time. Flexibility doesn’t just impact athletes; it influences everyone’s daily life, ... Read more

The post How to Enhance Your Flexibility – Exercises and Tips for Better Mobility appeared first on Star Two.

Exercise could be a powerful defense against Alzheimer’s disease. Three dementia researchers explain how it works.

Mushrooms are remarkably forgiving. Here’s the science of why.

It’s no secret that eCommerce is booming. In fact, a recent study by Statista shows that retail e-commerce...

The post WooCommerce Vs Shopify, a 2022 Comparison appeared first on Ignition Media.

Trump prometeu impor tarifas sobre todos os produtos estrangeiros. Se ele for adiante, muitas economias menores podem ser forçadas a responder da mesma forma.

A new study shows that the record-breaking rainfall was made more likely and intense by climate change.

This eight-part podcast series gives you unprecedented access to Mercedes and Williams.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is fined for swearing in a news conference after last weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Renault-owned Alpine team will use Mercedes engines in Formula 1 from the 2026 season.

Nowadays many shoppers don’t even remember how they learned about an eCommerce brand in the first place. If you ask them, the most popular answer is “I found it somewhere on the Internet”. Commercial information is all over the place, so nobody cares about the “channel” they use to find it anymore.

Modern commerce is a highly complex global business that is always evolving – and the pace of change is only accelerating. If you work in digital commerce, it’s crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in technology, business, shopper behavior and trends, laws and regulations, payments, logistics and more. How can you stay on […]

As a digital company, your business is not bound by conventional borders and has the freedom and opportunity to reach customers anywhere in the world. And just as you look outward for new markets, customers are also looking beyond their physical borders for their goods and services. As a study by KPMG shows, online buyers […]

Today’s buyers are getting more demanding and selling online is getting more and more complex. Both B2B and B2C customers expect a seamless purchase experience and easy access to all the information, products and services they want, on any device and in any country.

If you run an eCommerce website, you may prefer to use a graphic as the call-to-action button for your subscription-style products or services. Below you can find a number of different subscription buttons suitable for use on a website’s landing page or the product page. Want some Buy Now button or Add to Cart button […]

The post Subscription Button Graphics for eCommerce Websites appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

In this blog post, you can find a range of different ‘Buy Now’ buttons that can be used on a website as the ‘call-to-action’ button for a product or service you are trying to sell. There is a range of different size buttons, in a number of different colors to fit with the aesthetics of […]

The post Buy Now Button Graphics for eCommerce Websites appeared first on Tips and Tricks HQ.

The following article, Lawfare Freeze: Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Sentencing, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

BREAKING: Justice Merchan has granted a request from prosecutions/defense to pause deadlines — including Trump's sentencing date — while they consider the effect of his election as president. https://t.co/LaeJlAyTDi pic.twitter.com/SAHVbo3HbG — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 12, 2024 Developing … * * * Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge …

Continue reading Lawfare Freeze: Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Sentencing ...

The following article, Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

I really wish that everyone would just calm down.  Emotions always run high immediately after an election, but what we are witnessing this time around is truly frightening.  We live at a time when people feel free to express their deepest, darkest emotions on social media, and right now “freak out video” after “freak out …

Continue reading Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country ...

New York Judge Juan Merchan — who is overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s business records case — agreed to freeze the case until Nov. 19. There was to be a hearing […]

The post Judge Juan Merchan Grants Request from Trump's Legal Team and DA in NY Hush Money Case appeared first on The Western Journal.

Carvana is America’s fastest-growing e-tailer   February 23, 2022 (New York, NY) – Americans have taken to buying cars online, so much so that ecommerce car dealer Carvana is now […]

Amazon’s share declines for first time; Apple surpasses eBay in online sales June 14, 2022 (New York, NY) – This year will mark a major US retail milestone, as ecommerce […]

The Indo-Pacific: Geostrategic Perspectives until 2024 – Japanese perceptions 24 February 2020 — 9:00AM TO 1:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 22 March 2021 Chatham House

The roundtable brought together stakeholders within Japan’s strategic and policymaking communities to explore Japanese perceptions of evolving strategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific until 2024. The roundtable took place in Tokyo and was organized in partnership with the Indo-Pacific Studies Group.

The report below contains a summary of the discussions and an essay by Hiroki Sekine, Visiting Fellow, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House.

Read a summary and essay

The interconnected impacts of the Iraq war Expert comment LJefferson 22 March 2023

Relying on weak intelligence for invading Iraq has had a negative impact on US and UK credibility with several consequences that persist to this day.

20 years on from the fateful decision to invade Iraq, it is generally accepted that the US and UK governments overstated the evidence available for them to justify military action. The central claim to defend invading Iraq was that the country had continued its illicit nuclear weapons programme and had retained illegal stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons. None of these claims supported an imminent threat justification nor could any hidden caches of WMD be found by the US Iraq Survey Group after the invasion.  

In the US, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney hinted at additional evidence which could not be shared publicly to suggest that if only people knew what the government knew, they would agree that Iraq posed a significant threat to the West and needed to be disarmed.

In the UK, the Blair government acted similarly, focusing on a narrow interpretation of the evidence provided by the intelligence services and ignoring many of the dire warnings offered by academics and other experts. The Chilcot Inquiry found that the Blair government greatly exaggerated the threat Iraq posed to the UK, and that government arguments were based on the prime minister’s personal beliefs, as well as his promise to President Bush to support the US invasion. 

Relying on inadequate information and a biased analysis for invading Iraq has had a negative impact on US and UK credibility in the international security policy environment and domestically with ramifications that persist to this day.  

Impacts on soft power and trust

The invasion had an impact on US and UK soft power due to negative perceptions of the decision to go to war and the competence of the UK and US: public opinion polling by the Pew Center showed that perceptions of the US declined significantly as a result of the invasion of Iraq, especially in the Middle East and Central Asia.

This is undoubtedly a challenge for the US, but arguably an even bigger challenge for the UK, which due to its size and power relies much more on diplomacy and coalition-building in order to achieve its goals within various international treaty frameworks.   

Over nearly two decades, the US and the UK no longer seemed to enjoy the same foundation of trust, even with close allies, as they did previously. This changed in February 2022.

Towards the end of 2021, both the US and the UK were sounding the alarm about an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine based on information and analysis from their intelligence services. Despite the amassing of Russian troops, tanks and artillery on the border clearly visible from the air and by satellite imagery, several allies remained unconvinced until the invasion happened.  

This was in part due to their own assessments which indicated that Russia would stop short of an invasion, and in part because allies were unwilling to take US and UK statements on faith, without being able to assess the information themselves.

US officials found this frustrating as it meant that NATO and the EU were slower off the mark with support for Ukraine than they might otherwise have been. However, the accuracy of the US/UK intelligence on Russia’s invasion, coupled with their sharing it openly, may well have restored faith in their capabilities and analysis.  

A more open approach to intelligence  

Over the last few years, there seems to have been a change in accepted practice regarding sharing and using intelligence. The UK Ministry of Defence has taken a much more open approach to intelligence in the war in Ukraine, sharing the most recent defence information publicly in order to counter Russian disinformation.  

This is a positive step to ensure that intelligence can be discussed and assessed critically. Being more open about secret intelligence may also be linked to the increasing capabilities of open-source intelligence (OSINT). Non-governmental and international organizations and the media all now have access to data from, for example, imaging satellites and can independently verify information coming from governments. 

Perceived double standards 

A reduction of trust in US and UK intelligence was not the only impact of the invasion of Iraq. Russia and China have repeatedly called out the US and UK for acting without a second UN Security Council mandate. Putin uses the decision to invade Iraq, as well as the NATO humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, to justify Russia’s actions in Crimea. He invokes parallel language to spread disinformation about a ‘responsibility to protect life’ of the (‘ethnically Russian’) Crimean population. Russia has also repeatedly used the WMD trope to create false narratives around Ukrainian biosecurity laboratories to justify Russian military actions against Ukraine.  

Deciding to invade Iraq under what turned out to be a false pretext has weakened the application of the international rule of law and has led to a perceived double standard whereby powerful states can use UN processes in their favour, or completely disregard them if they do not deliver their goals.

As the Chilcot Inquiry found, there was very little preparation for the post-invasion period either in the US or the UK. Confirmation bias led not only to trusting shaky intelligence but also to believing in a best-case scenario and a ‘relatively benign security environment’ once the invasion had prevailed. Mismanaging the country’s occupation afterwards also led to the perception that the UK and US are less competent than projected. 

Problems for the international order  

The Iraq War has left many smaller and medium-sized states outside Europe and North America with the impression that powerful states are not committed to an equitable international system and instead will bend the rules to suit them while nonetheless holding other states to account. This dynamic poses a serious problem for the international system. 

It opens the door to ‘whataboutism’ in Russia’s false justifications for invading Ukraine and undermines faith in international law, destabilizing the international order in the longer term. Beyond the immediate challenges of dealing with the war in Ukraine, reforming and strengthening the international order to make it more equitable will be one of the most significant challenges the US and UK will face over the next decade. 

A trust deficit  

Domestically, for already disappointed citizens, the deceit over intelligence it is yet another piece of evidence which suggests that their government is not trustworthy and may not have their best interests at heart. This has profound implications for US and UK democracies, making it harder for governments to counter citizens’ susceptibilities to disinformation campaigns.