On March 11th the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic just as Turkey Ivory Coast Honduras and Bolivia announced their first cases. There were now 126214 confirmed cases worldwide 7266 new cases that day and a total of 4628 deaths thus f

Rain poured down this morning putting the final kibosh on the boat trip around a nearby island park that was originally on the itinerary but is now closed. I was happy because I didnt want to go on the boat trip anyway. Yesterdays antimotion pill m

Sunday 5 April 2020Even though I can only see a sliver of the park and street from my windows that sliver includes two park benches. These past three weeks Ive only seen one person sit there. After last weeks scolding on Monday I have

Day 23 Gabby the motorhome is still on furlough . We keep checking on her . To make sure she is Ok . That she is not missing us as much as we are missing her.Walking makes you stop and think . Instead of a mind racing on important things it goes i

I don't believe it's been 5 years since I last posted anything. I guess Life got in the way but I promise travelling never stopped. The current Pandemic got me thinking about what freedom really means Freedom of movement freedom of choice freedom t

The bus ride from Skopje to Lake Ohrid took about 3 and a bit hours. I enjoyed the views from the bus window as we made our way through Macedonia. I was a bit disorientated when I got out of the bus station but soon got myself sorted on the right path to

Sometimes you have to try something different . Chesterfield area is not all Peak District pretty . Nor is full to the brim with pretty stone cottages . Stone walls fields and Bluebell Woods . There is another side . The A61 divides the two halves . The P

After one of the best night's sleep I'd had in a long time I woke up to find my clothes all dry from the night before. Great start to the day and when I looked out of the window it looked like the rain had stopped whether that would last I wasn't too s

Today our last in Goa finds us up early and waiting outside for our driver at 6.30am as we're heading to Dudhsager Falls. These falls form part of the border between Goa and Karnataka and are India's 5th highest waterfall.At around 120klm for the re

It is Sunday. The shine is shining . It is a day of rest . But each day feels like a day of rest . Everyday feels like a Sunday. I could turn over fall asleep and have a late breakfast . Somehow along the way over the last 30 days walking has become an

Sunday 12 April 202028 days of quarantine down 14 more to goLike every Sunday in the new world of Peru under quarantine nobody is allowed to leave their homes today except for emergency medical services. All grocery stores pharmacies a

I won't lie to you. My brain was Ok this morning accepting the fact that a walk was on the way after breakfast . It also knew that today was shopping day . The day of a telekit from work. It was my feet that were complaining . Complaining loudly at that

For a celebration which I will not go into we thought we would treat ourselves to a couple of days in Cornwall. We left work early and headed down the evening before but we had completely underestimated how far away Cornwall is and it was well past midn

What a life changing experience. More so for some than others. Our personal situation is doable. We arent struggling by any means. It is those with family friends or even themselves who have become ill with this coronavirus that are the ones dealt the

Yesterday it was horses birds coots on the pond rabbits and squirrels . Today chickens. Guinea Fowl a bit of an odd sight around the village as they walked alongside me. My plan was to head out into the countryside . Luckily living on the spine of Eng

When I visited China for the first time many many years ago. I remember going to a place that I really liked but couldn't remember what it was called. I remember me and one of the guys I travelled with sat at an outside bar by a lake and it was really nic

Sunday 19 April 202035 days down 7 more to goIve been looking forward to today all week My housemates and I have been planning a picnic on the roof today. I chose Sunday because were not allowed to leave the house and I wanted to h

Shall I let you into a little secret oh go on then . I am quite enjoying this walking . Lying in bed unable to drop off to sleep I sorted out in my mind where I was walking to in the morning . The weather whas a let down . Over the past few weeks someone

A few months ago most people did not know what a pandemic was or how deadly it could become. Just common sense told me that the Corona virus could become a global pandemic with many sick and many would perish. A pandemic is an disease epidemic with a rapi

It was not the aching feet that were stopping me in my tracks . To be fair they were burning . This walking plays havoc with the arches of your feet . It was not my brain working overtime thinking of reasons not to go out . Although it would have been easy

Sunday 26 April 202042 days down 14 to goToday is my mothers 71st birthday. I called her in the morning and was glad to hear that she has a beautiful sunny day in Boise and plans to go outside. Social distancing rules in Boise and com

I woke early again . The bedroom was still in darkness . Tossing about I found I could not get back to sleep. My mind was going round and round . Odd thoughts . Day 49 how many hours have we been locked down. 1176 hours or thereabouts. I could have begun

SPAl final hasta las 10 no he salido del hostal ya que habia desayuno incluido. De ahi por la carretera transcanadiense directamente hasta el puente. Un seor puente 13 km de largo hubiese sido divertido recorrerlo en bici pero esta prohibido y

Well here I am in Southern Cross population 1000. There is nothing around here but mines farms and desert. My new boss Jo was at the train station to pick me up when I arrived. She drove me into town and took me to the local coffee shop. Not much varie

We got paid today OO man was I happy to go to the bank and get my first real paycheck. Tomorrowtoday we are going to Hong Kong for 5 days so I will keep you updated on how that goes. Becca and I went to trivia tonight with her friend Tom and some o

i have decided to add a few countries to my itinerary. since i was only able to find a guide for turkey before my departure i am now travelling with less. somewhere along the way in turkey i had drawn a map adding romania serbia bosniaherzegovinia mon

oct 72010. momentum gaining. video now viewable on flagoz.com click on youtube. tom and i spent three hours yesterday cutting form the clips i'd done into a three minute collection of vox pop and flag waving. very exciting and rewarding that i've done i

The weekend was very full as I had my allday program beginning at 11 a.m. and finishing around 9 p.m. In that course of time we practiced breathing techniques sang an old Rogers and Hart song to be prepared for next class engaged in all sorts of mo

So now we are lying in our Holiday Inn room in a nice big King Bed at Los Angeles International Airport HOW EXCITING But what has happened up until now To be honest not a lot so here goes.....Left Cairns at 430am on the 2nd October to fly

For the National Holiday we get a whole week off. On day one Helen and I had planned an excursion into Benxi to just explore it. We made it to lunch a pedicure and a nap. The pedicure however was rather interesting. It was more like we walked into a f

Hi AllSo I'm on holiday for a week for the national day celebrations. We went out for a ride on our bikes on Friday and Saturday and here are the photosEnjoyJah Bless

I decided to introduce my son to video games. We soon found one he liked … and I mean really, really liked

So I decided to introduce my two-year-old son to the world of video games. Before you accuse me of hobbling my offspring's mind, I'd like to point out that a) television is 2,000 times worse, so shove that up your Night Garden and b) I also decided to counterbalance the gaming with exposure to high culture. For every 10 minutes of Fruit Ninja during daylight hours, he'd get 10 pages of a critically acclaimed novel at bedtime. We're currently halfway through The Magus by John Fowles, which he's enjoying immensely. He finds some passages so moving that his protracted sobs drown out my reading completely, and when I return to the beginning of the chapter to start again, he leaps up screaming, trying to snatch the book out of my hands with delight.

Like any self-respecting 2014 toddler, he can swipe, pat and jab at games on a smartphone or tablet, but smartphone games aren't real games. They're interactive dumbshows designed to sedate suicidal commuters. And they're not just basic but insulting, often introducing themselves as free-to-play simply so they can extort money from you later in exchange for more levels or less terrible gameplay. Either that or they fund themselves with pop-up adverts that defile the screen like streaks on a toilet bowl.

The first rule of panic mode is you don’t talk about panic mode. And this is purely for personal reasons, but I don’t want Scotland to reject us

It used to be unthinkable. Now it’s thinkable. In fact, in some minds, it’s already been thought. Scotland might be voting yes to independence and splitting from the rest of the union. I’m not Scottish, and I’m therefore powerless to intervene, although I would personally prefer Scotland to stay – but only for entirely selfish and superficial reasons. Reason one: I’d rather not be lumbered with a Tory government from now until the day the moon crashes into the Thames. Two: I quite like Scotland and the Scottish, so it’s hard not to feel somehow personally affronted by their rejection. Why did you just unfriend and unfollow me, Scotland? What did I ever do to you? What’s that? Sorry, you’ll have to slow down a bit. Can’t understand a word you’re saying. Don’t you come with subtitles?! Ha ha ha! No, seriously, come back. Scotland? Scotland?

Apparently the consequences of a split in the union could be calamitous. The skies will fall and the seas will boil and the dead shall rise and the milk will spoil. There will be a great disturbance in the force. Duncan’s horses will turn and eat each other. Starving ravens will peck out your eyes halfway through the Great British Bake Off. Your dad will give birth to a jackal full of hornets. And in London’s last remaining DVD shop, Gregory’s Girl will quietly be re-categorised as “world cinema”.

Researchers have created a version of Mario that experiences basic emotions – now he needs a purpose that affects the real world

• It’s-a-me, Mario! And soon I’ll be playing my games without your help …

January is traditionally a fairly sleepy month, current affairs-wise, but a horrified gawp at the news confirms that 2015 has already had one heck of a morning. Clearly it takes a lot to knock a garish underage sex allegation involving Prince Andrew off the news agenda, but the Parisian terror attacks managed it, partly because the horror of it all warranted such blanket coverage, but also because the resulting conversation about freedom of speech is taking up so many column inches, there’s scarcely room to run anything else. There hasn’t been this much furious debate about the merits of a cartoon since the introduction of Scrappy Doo.

(Fun imaginary scenario: in a bid to revive their flagging ratings, ITV launch a live, feelgood Saturday night version of Celebrity Pictionary. But chaos ensues when Paddy McGuinness pulls the first card from the deck to discover it requires him to sketch the Prophet Muhammad.)

As the anthology series Black Mirror returns, its creator explains what fuels the show’s twisted tales – and tells us where we’re going wrong with technology

A sadistic version of The X Factor where contestants perform for their own freedom. An immersive experience where criminals are subjected to the same terrors they inflicted on their victims, in front of a baying audience. A grotesque cartoon demagogue using TV and social media to obtain power. No, these aren’t scenes from the first term of a Donald Trump presidency, but something only marginally less traumatising, and infinitely more likely to happen: Charlie Brooker’s techy anthology series Black Mirror, a show its creator describes as made up of “deliciously horrible ‘what if’s”.

Related: Black Mirror review – Charlie Brooker's splashy new series is still a sinister marvel

Related: Modern tribes: the Pokémon Go aficionado

Silke Weitendorf war das erste Mädchen, das in Deutschland Pippi Langstrumpf lesen durfte. Später wurde sie Astrid Lindgrens Verlegerin. Hier erzählt sie, was die Schriftstellerin und ihre berühmteste Figur gemeinsam hatten.

Canadian accident investigator Larry Vance claims to have solved the mystery of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. In an interview, he explains why he believes the plane's captain deliberately ditched the aircraft.

The German cabinet on Monday agreed to an unprecedented aid package to prop up the country's economy as the coronavirus pandemic takes hold. Parliament is set to approve the package later this week.

We study the impact of non-pharmaceutical policy interventions (NPIs) like “stay-at-home” orders on the spread of infectious disease. NPIs are associated with slower growth of Covid-19 cases. NPIs “spillover” into other jurisdictions. NPIs are not associated with significantly worse economic outcomes measured by job losses. Job losses have been no higher in US states that implemented “stay-at-home” during the Covid-19 pandemic than in states that did not have “stay-at-home”. All of these results demonstrate that the Covid-19 pandemic is a common economic and public health shock. The tradeoff between the economy and public health today depends strongly on what is happening elsewhere. This underscores the importance of coordinated economic and public health responses.

Ambient pollution is a byproduct of economic activity. It has been widely reported that COVID-19 and associated lockdowns have generated large improvements in air quality worldwide, including to China's notoriously-poor air quality. We analyze China's official pollution monitor data and account for the large, recurrent improvement in air quality following Lunar New Year (LNY), which essentially coincided with lockdowns in 2020. With the important exception of NO2, China's air quality improvements in 2020 are smaller than we should expect near the pandemic's epicenter: Hubei province. Compared with LNY improvements experienced in 2018 and 2019 in Hubei, we see smaller improvements in SO2 while ozone concentrations increased in both relative and absolute terms (roughly doubling). Similar patterns are found for the six provinces neighboring Hubei. We conclude that whether COVID-19 actually decreased pollution in China depends on the pollutant and reference period considered.

We conducted a large-scale survey covering 58 countries and over 100,000 respondents between late March and early April 2020 to study beliefs and attitudes towards citizens’ and governments’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most respondents reacted strongly to the crisis: they report engaging in social distancing and hygiene behaviors, and believe that strong policy measures, such as shop closures and curfews, are necessary. They also believe that their government and their country’s citizens are not doing enough and underestimate the degree to which others in their country support strong behavioral and policy responses to the pandemic. The perception of a weak government and public response is associated with higher levels of worries and depression. Using both cross-country panel data and an event-study, we additionally show that strong government reactions correct misperceptions, and reduce worries and depression. Our findings highlight that policy-makers not only need to consider how their decisions affect the spread of COVID-19, but also how such choices influence the mental health of their population.

Do new societal needs increase charitable giving or simply reallocate a fixed supply of donations? We study this question using IRS datasets and the natural experiment of deadly tornadoes. Among ZIP Codes located more than 20 miles away from a tornado's path, donations by households increase by over $1 million per tornado fatality. We find no negative effects on charities located in these ZIP Codes, with a bootstrapped confidence interval that rejects substitution rates above 16 percent. The results imply that giving to one cause need not come at the expense of another.

Despite widespread interest, there is little systematic evidence on the relationship between income, wealth, and charitable giving. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to provide descriptive statistics on this relationship. We find that, irrespective of specifica­tion, donative behavior increases with greater resources.

In Spain, the number of coronavirus deaths is climbing faster than in Italy. Dr. Inés Lipperheide is fighting to save her patients in an overcrowded intensive care unit. She reports conditions straight out of a "horror film."

L'Europa è più di una mera alleanza di egocentrici. Non esistono alternative agli Eurobond in una crisi come questa.

Europa es más que una coalición de ególatras. En una crisis como esta no existe alternativa para los eurobonos.

Well-off Brazilians have brought the coronavirus back home with them from their travels. Many of them also employ domestic workers from the country's favelas - who they're apparently unwilling to protect by telling them to stay home. Brazil's poorest class could make easy quarry for the disease.