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

Saturday 29th June 2019Before heading to Hiroshima in the afternoon I made a brief stop at the town of Tatsuno. This is home to Japan's only Soy Sauce Museum. Access to Tatsuno is relatively straight forward with frequent trains departi

Yesterday was Day 45 Our five o'clock briefing was delivered by the less than charismatic Mr Gove who told us more of the same . He spelled out the numbers of deaths the numbers of tests that had been undertaken. The numbers rolled off his tongue . Traf

Crusin' and playing the radioWith no particular place to goChuck Berry After leaving Doubtful Sound we had to make a long drive to the Fox Glacier area. We planned to see the glacier while we were there but also had hoped to have great vi

This year Children's Day is May 5. Of all the childrencentric holidays I miss Children's Day the most. Why I felt it was special for Japanese American children in a culture that cherishes tradition family and outright spoiling of children. Writ

I'm so excited to be planning a road trip to Pai this coming November My husband and I are planning a trip for his family when they visit from Australia and I'm so excited to show them around We'll be driving from here in Chiang Mai to

Like hopefully the rest of you we are home keeping a low profile. And with no travel plans in the foreseeable future i have had a chance to start going thru 35 yrs of travel pics and at least 20 journals of various trips that were written the old fash

Since you seem to like my wine emails here is a subject near and dear to us Californians. French wine. Let me start out by saying this about the French. They love to bad mouth Napa Valley after their BIG loss decades ago. On most wine tours in Franc

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

So during this shelter in place or quarantine period many friends have asked me this question. My short answer is I would go anywhere it is safe and happy. Narrowing it down I would say New Zealand Thailand and Cape Town. Why If things were s

The next chapter of our trip started with a few problems getting out of Australia. We found ourselves standing at the checkin desk listening to the lady behind the counter tell us that she could not check us in until we had our visa sorted to return into

Well this weekend has been an absolute blast for me and my family First after a long drive we arrived at this cottage that wasn39t really a cottage more of a large Cabin. Lasse39s friends were there and it was their cottage. His friend designed an

Slow start again we started packing everyone was sharing photos etc. After lunch of rolls tomato prosciutto and cheese we headed into the Antonettiano Mole one of the symbols of Torino and home of the Museum of Cinema. The museum was very cool with a

Marseille Arles Avignon in Southern France 9 and 10 Aug 2013 After driving towards Marseille pronounced Marsay just before lunch we hit the bumper to bumper traffic of the French Riviera in summer holidays again. We crawled along but finally got

Hi fewIt seems the blog is not read much but for those who followhere goesForget about photos... Dial up modems everywhere and so it is impossible to upload anything and often keyboards are unpractical...Rwanda is amazing pure beauty... Tho

Bula everyone from Fiji Tropical isle very hot amazing resort. We finally came out of the jungle and the rain. There was no phone reception TV or anything else apart from trees toads frogs crocs and box jellyfish called stingers which can sting you to dea

We left Bob and Lyn's Alex and Shirley's spoilt and rejuvenated but ready to see some more of Australias' sites. We flew to Cairns and arrived to a slightly warmer stickier climate. The hostel we had booked into was at the back of cairns town but only

Okay how is everyone doing After 3 weeks I finally figured out how to use my blackberry on WIFI Now I will send out my updates without any issues....I forgot another couple of updates from the LARSE trekOkay so everyone know that I have d

So when I last blogged about our wonderful stay on Phu Quoc Island I was writing from an coffee shop in Saigon on Friday afternoon. I wasn't aware at the time but we had begun what would basically be 51 hours in transit as we blundered our way to an isla

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

Honolulu from 7.00a.m. til 9.30p.m. Weather just so nice high 2039s with a nice breeze blowing. Seeing as we had been here before and done a lot of touristy sites decided to check out the shops have lunch and then went out to the Factory Outlets in the

Hungry Horse Dam Reservoir Canoeing on Lake McDonald and checking out Lake McDonald Hotel this was our agenda for the day. We had a great time learning all about Hungry Horse Dam and it39s power sources for the states of Montana Idaho Nevada Or

Wrapped up my Banos trip focus was on Spanish classes but plenty of hiking opportunity and wanted to get dialed into vegetatation soils stability before Malinguapamba MP. Banos is warmer than MP and sets on metamorphic rock with volcanics above. Plent

i handed my notice in today at work so 8 weeks to go they were really good about it and now i have done this the nerves have set in and im actually thinking what have i done.... well theres not turning back now.... yipeee So 8 weeks today ill b

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

We are home now but this didn't stay posted for some reason so I am reposting it just to have it there.Hi Sitting in a truck stop cafe that has free wifi...no internet for a week so no blog to post. We are well and continuing to have a good time

Alrighty finally left Beijing and am now about 350 kms west in a city called Datong. Just arrived late last night so have only had really one full day here tomorrow I'm going to see some really cool sites. Let me catch you up since my last post. Wa

sorry if you got 2 msgs re previous post Blog site said unpublished so did againthis is written the day after and its noon in Bruxelle as I was just so tired after yesterday that beauty sleep I referred to a catchup day mostly setting an alarm

Big ShoesAfter eating lunch at Relish today Maria Scott and I took a taxi to the big shoe store. I found an address in the back of Chengdoo magazine. Since my flip flops broke I haven't had anything to wear with my black clothing so I needed some b

When you are homeless jobless and penniless there are few options open to you but to return to the family home even if it is in Australia With a degree behind him and a spring in his step Cieran tried so hard to start his career and settle into the next

When I got to Arequipa a white city within view of three volcanoes in the middle of the desert I was really feeling the absence of Conny and Jennie. It was odd to suddenly be on my own again after 2 weeks of being part of a three. And for the four month

Sydney's northern beaches ist ein beliebter Urlaubsort fuer Sydnysiders. Die northern beaches erstrecken sich von Manly bis nach Palm Beach.

Day 2 Waikiki Beach in Honolulu Hawaii 14 June 2015 After a much needed sleep we were ready for the beach holiday. We had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel enjoying the scenes around and in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The day was spent w

The 28 or so hours traveling here has proven to be more than worth itWhile the flight from Houston to Santiago was overnight and in the dark the three hours from Santiago to Punta Arenas were spent winging over the Andes. Amazing is a word overused i

Russia v Ukraine, Isis, Boris Johnson, Cliff Richard and Ebola – there's not much to be cheerful about right now, though the ice bucket challenge is working overtime

Ah. Right. Looks like I picked a bad week to draw inspiration from current affairs for this knockabout comedy column. The news is rarely a warehouse of carefree chuckles but at the moment it's like an apocalyptic playlist on perpetual shuffle, with one harrowing crisis overlapping another. Palestine, Libya, Syria … it's all horrifying and upsetting. Not a single nice thing has happened all year, except the recent stealth launch of Cadbury's Wispa Biscuits, and even "stealth launch of Wispa Biscuits" sounds like a terrible euphemism for breaking wind.

The planet is currently playing host to countless alarming crises. There's the nail-biting tension of Russia v Ukraine, a depressing standoff overseen by facial-expression-avoider Vladimir Putin. I don't know if all the strings connecting Putin's face muscles to his brain were accidentally severed during a tragic smiling accident years ago, but I've seen brickwork convey more emotion.

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”.

From flooding to Benefits Street, the rise of Ukip to the Apple Watch, the year was filled with huge, grim events. We could all use a lie-down over Christmas

So 2014’s almost done, and unless you got married, or had your firstborn, or won a Subaru filled with Maltesers in a radio phone-in, it’s unlikely to be a year you’ll remember fondly. It was filled with huge, grim events. So is every year, of course, but in 2014 it seemed there were fewer light moments to offset the enveloping dread. And everyone seemed angry, all the time. A whole planet, gritting its teeth. Hundreds protesting. Thousands marching. Millions waiting to attach their internalised rage to a hashtag at a moment’s notice. We could all use a lie-down over Christmas.

The year started badly for Britain when the sky decided to waterboard the lot of us. It rained incessantly throughout early January; big grey raindrops the size of cupboards. The government issued snorkels to anyone under 5ft 4in, while areas of Devon were submerged for so long the residents evolved gills and blowholes.

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.

An American woman goes to the police in Las Vegas. She claims she has been raped by an athlete: global football star Cristiano Ronaldo. What really happened has never been resolved because lawyers settled the case with a payment of $375,000 by the Real Madrid star. By SPIEGEL Staff

Christine Simon-Noll is active helping refugees in Hamburg's HafenCity neighborhood. She says it is getting much tougher to find volunteers. In an interview, she outlines what needs to happen in order to ensure successful integration.

Astronomer Avi Loeb believes that the interstellar object dubbed 'Oumuamua could actually be a probe sent by alien beings. Given the evidence that has so far been gathered, he says, it is a possible conclusion to draw.

As the flames shot out of the roof of Notre Dame de Paris on Monday evening, a global community of concern quickly formed. It shows that the idea of cultural heritage is much more than just a UNESCO list.

Guest Post: High precision time measurements depend on using multiple clocks to ensure redundancy and stability.

Some in Germany have the impression that the country can survive a long-term lockdown without suffering any grave consequences. That thinking is dangerous.

People are growing increasingly impatient over the coronavirus lockdown, and politicians are now debating whether to loosen measures. From a scientific point of view this is a disaster. Measures should actually be tightened until we know more about the virus.

Definition: (verb) Restore to a previous or better condition.
Synonyms: restitute.
Usage: This old farmhouse may look ramshackle now, but it will be the epitome of rustic charm once I renovate it.

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.

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.

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.