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Derbyshire 85 Chesterfield Every cloud and the bald man and the comb Where to head for now from Skeggy Week 5 Day 32

Morning all I guess you will all be up and greeting the dawn . Sleep did not come easy last night . Tossing and turning . You get nights like that at times . Hoping that once your head hits the pillow you will fall asleep . Some nights you do. Others the




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Derbyshire 86 Chesterfield 768 hours what is the connection between hairdressers barbers and SpaceX Starlink

The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough Rabindranath Tagore one of my favourites. I saw the first butterfly of the season today . A Cabbage White the scourge of gardeners who love their cabbages . The pretty white things lays




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Derbyshire 87 Chesterfield I won't lie to youa morning telekit and joy that the carrots are coming through Covid Blue

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




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Derbyshire 88 Chesterfield Day 34 what to do today The sounds of silence Ground Control to Captain Tom

The early morning dawn light was streaming in through the window . The time seemed irrelevant . It was still not quite light enough to rise . Looking at my watch I hoped the green luminous fingers would give me a clue to the time . It felt like 5am. The fi




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Derbyshire 89 Chesterfield guinea fowl and chickens Top middle and bottom scones or are they scones

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




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Derbyshire 90 Chesterfield the work of fiction got it right first thingroman miles and a milestone

The work of fiction known as the weather forecast has been giving us a sandwich message the last few days. The good news the bread of the sandwich has been that April has been a lovely month . No April showers. Wall to wall sunshine. Then came the fillin




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Derbyshire 91 Chesterfield Borage Blue another weekend has come and almost gone a phone app to track our movements The Archers

Thankyou to my travelblog friend you know who you are for introducing the colour Borage Blue to my collection of colours . She told me that the plant I struggled finding a name for yesterday was Borage . An electric blue and a stunning plant .Anothe




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Derbyshire 92 Chesterfield Boris is back the clouds were social distancing rain ahead for the Bank Holiday

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




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Derbyshire 93 Chesterfield Hunan ynysig A Simon and Garfunkle hit Is that rain I hear

Is that rain I hear Gently tapping on the window . I cannot hear anything as I lie under the bedclothes . I am sure it is raining . The work of fiction the weather forecaster got it right . April is going out in the way April should go out . Light ra




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Derbyshire 94 Chesterfield the day did not start wella skip in the pouring rainrunning out of things to say and do

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




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Derbyshire 95 Chesterfield Bottom Road 125 days and counting down

Rain it can be quite therapeutic . When it patters on Gabbys roof it can lull you into sleep . When it hammers down it is worse than listening to Ginger Baker and Keith Moon on their drumkits on the roof. It does the garden good . But lying in bed listen




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Derbyshire 96 Chesterfield Today should have been the day that's about all I can say

Today should have been the day. It is going to be a day of would have could have and should have again. We would have been waking up on the park and ride paid our fee to exit and driven the M2 down to the tunnel . We should have been sitting in the car




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Derbyshire 97 Chesterfield small random acts of kindness The Five tests The R word Here comes the sun E45

Goedemorgen to you all . We would have probably woken up in Belgium this morning having dined on waffles or frites last night . I am sure that the sun would be shining as we rose . The sun has arrived here so the chances are Belgium would have been just as




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Derbyshire 98 Chesterfield walking in the footprint of Wingerworth Hallwhat is the connection between Wingerworth Randolph Hearst and the St Louis City Museum

Did you know that there was a connection between our large 7000 inhabitant village of Wingerworth Randolph Hearst and the a museum across the pond in St Louis No neither did I until I treated our village as if I were a visitor on a first visit . As a v




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Derbyshire 99 Chesterfield No news is good news The Wingerworth Sheep Dip Five ways to stay happy

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




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Derbyshire 100 Chesterfield my five a day challenge100 who would have believed it closed footpaths

Reaching Blog 100 on Chesterfield who would have believed it Not me. Sometimes I would write something about my home town. Most of the time though blogs were about somewhere else . Covid 19 has scuppered any chance of a blog from out of town for a whil




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Derbyshire 101 Chesterfield 7000 steps by 9.30 from frost to blue skiesSkype. Risk assessments and telekits will life ever be the same again

Surfacing this morning was difficult . It is a work day today . Last night we had a frost . Not a heavy one . Not the sort of frost you get in the Winter . Not the sort of frost that you have to scrape off the car windscreen. But a frost nevertheless . The




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Derbyshire 102 Chesterfieldwe might be able to go out and exercise twice a daythe story of the Napoleonic prisoners and the 1 and a half mile milestone

It is dark when I wake . It is Day 48 of the lockdown . The sun has not risen and the birds have not woken. It is Thursday . Sage are meeting today with our government . Sage used to be that herb that you stuffed up a chicken together with onion . Now it i




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Derbyshire 103 Chesterfield Day 49 another bridge another country VE day celebrations or is it remembering

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




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Derbyshire 104 Chesterfield Smocked cloudstodays plan is mostly about washing the car

Morning she shouted across the road . Morning I replied . Busy isn't it I thought it was lockdown Yes seems like a lot of people still travelling in their cars was my reply. We agreed the lady on her morning walk and I that this was a lovel




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Callan Waterford

Somehow I missed this entry so adding it a month later.After a leisurely start to the day we headed off on a scenic route which would take us through Waterford along the coast and back to Callan. Apart from the motorways there is no fast way to get




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WONDERFUL PEOPLE I MEET

Dear allsometimes it is very awkward to undertsnad how people that hardly know me or just have briefly meet me trust me and help me with money to support my projectsthe last 2 ladies that helped me were 2 amazing spanish ladies I prefer not to dis




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Oktoberfest

Once again sorry dear readers for not writing in a weekMany people have been asking questions and I have been saying Check my blog I'll write soon and have not.Let me first talking about my past weekend my Oktoberfest adventure Then I wi




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A trafficked penguin, a creepy talking doll and trench warfare | Charlie Brooker

The John Lewis and Sainsbury’s ads have kickstarted an earlier-than-ever festive season in which we’ll shop or click our way to bankruptcy chasing 15% off the top Christmas products. But beware of My Friend Cayla …

Hey, remember when Christmas used to last 12 days? Now it’s so bloated it’s virtually an epoch, lasting twice as long as the year it falls in. The early-warning signs keep changing: not so long ago the start of the holiday season was signified by the release of the Christmas edition of the Radio Times. Now it’s the annual unveiling of the John Lewis ad, which this year features a boy arranging for a trafficked overseas bird to be smuggled into the country inside a small container and presented like a gift-wrapped object to the laddish penguin mate who exists only in his troubled mind. They say psychopathic murderers often start their “careers” by doing ghastly things to animals: hopefully they’ll keep the storyline going year after year, as his illusory brain-penguin commands him to carry out increasingly hideous yuletide ceremonies, until eventually the advert consists of nothing but him appeasing the Penguin King by dancing in the moonlight wearing a necklace of ears and eyeballs, all of it seen through the sights of a police marksman positioned on the roof of a neighbour’s evacuated home.

But this year, the John Lewis ad has been overshadowed by gargantuan supermarket and noted humanitarian anti-war campaigner J Sainsbury PLC, and its tear-jerking period piece in which a perfectly good war is ruined by a tragic outbreak of football.

Continue reading...




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EZB-Urteil: Von der Leyen erwägt Verfahren gegen Deutschland

Erstmals hat sich das Bundesverfassungsgericht gegen den Europäischen Gerichtshof gestellt. EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen prüft nun ein Vertragsverletzungsverfahren gegen Deutschland.




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Corona: Germany Weighing Strict Curfews If Rules Violated over Weekend

The head of Angela Merkel’s Chancellery has warned that people’s behavior this weekend will be pivotal in determining whether strict shelter-in-place curfews are imposed in Germany to control the spread of the coronavirus.




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Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Group Performance -- by Ben Weidmann, David J. Deming

Most jobs require teamwork. Are some people good team players? In this paper we design and test a new method for identifying individual contributions to group performance. We randomly assign people to multiple teams and predict team performance based on previously assessed individual skills. Some people consistently cause their group to exceed its predicted performance. We call these individuals “team players”. Team players score significantly higher on a well-established measure of social intelligence, but do not differ across a variety of other dimensions, including IQ, personality, education and gender. Social skills – defined as a single latent factor that combines social intelligence scores with the team player effect – improve group performance about as much as IQ. We find suggestive evidence that team players increase effort among teammates.




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Trae Young is the perfect Knicks target

The Knicks have the draft picks to make a major swing on the trade market, and the Atlanta point guard makes sense for everyone involved.




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Trae Young is the perfect Knicks target

The Knicks have the draft picks to make a major swing on the trade market, and the Atlanta point guard makes sense for everyone involved.




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Brooklyn subway surfer recovering at hospital after doctors amputate crushed foot

Ulises Rivera, 32, had stitches above his right eye and a blood-soaked sheet wrapped around his right leg at Elmhurst Hospital — but otherwise seemed in healthy condition.




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NYC students enjoy free performance of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ at Madison Square Garden

City middle and high school students streamed off buses and trains, buzzing with excitement for the afternoon’s entertainment. For some, it was the first chance to see a Broadway show.




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RFU chief: 2021 Six Nations cancellation 'catastrophic'

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney has described the prospect of the sport being postponed into 2021 as "catastrophic".




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Lenihan: Difficult year ahead for IRFU

Former Ireland captain and team manager Donal Lenihan believes the nature of rugby means it will be one of the last contact sports to resume and that spells trouble for the IRFU.




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Total warfare among the Maya began earlier than once thought

The burnt ruins of a Maya city in what’s now Guatemala hold clues to its untimely demise at the turn of the 7th century.




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The weird and wonderful world growing spuds (and other crops) in space

With the right kind of care, plenty of plants actually do just fine in microgravity.




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Daoine ag diúltú eolas a thabhairt ag aerfoirt agus calafoirt

Dúirt ard-stiúrthóir Chomhairle um Chearta an Duine Liam Herrick go bhfuil an Stát in ann iallach a chur ar dhaoine eolas a thabhairt faoina gcuid taistil.




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Clippers want to add consistency to dominant performances

Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George know time is running out to develop consistency that matches their top-end potential.




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NBA 2K Players Tournament to resume Thursday with quarterfinals

The quarterfinal round of the league's players-only NBA 2K video-game tournament will resume Thursday with quarterfinals that were originally set for Tuesday.




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Clippers' Patrick Beverley is himself again in 'NBA2K' tournament quarterfinal win

Clippers teammates Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell stay alive in the "NBA2K" charity tournament.




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Markieff Morris used push-ups to get over his performance against Zion Williamson

Markieff Morris wasn't very pleased with how he played against Zion Williamson and the Pelicans on Sunday, so the new Laker did something about it.




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LeBron James' performances against Bucks and Clippers earn him 'MVP' accolades

In victories over the Bucks and Clippers — two of the NBA's finest teams — LeBron James showed how much of a difference-maker he is for the Lakers.




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Column: Feeling sad? Lethargic? Fearful? Happiness is just a bike ride away

Stuck in coronavirus lockdown, all I wanted to do was sleep in and eat toast. And then I rediscovered my bike.




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'Fresh Air' Remembers Bollywood Icon Irrfan Khan

One of India's most beloved film stars, Khan, who died April 29, became internationally known for his work in films like Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi. Originally broadcast in 2012.




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Brian Dennehy's 'Driveways' Performance Is Gruff, Graceful — And A Goodbye

Dennehy, who died April 15, plays a suburban widower who befriends a mother and her son in one of his last films. It's the kind of deeply lived-in performance that Dennehy was known for.




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Stephen Sondheim's Star-Studded 90th Birthday Salute Made For Perfect TV

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Groban and Meryl Streep are just a few of the artists featured in Take Me to the World, a tribute to the iconic Broadway composer and lyricist.




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Irrfan Khan Dies; Indian Actor Appeared In Crossover Hit 'Slumdog Millionaire'

The versatile actor vaulted to international stardom after playing a police inspector in the 2008 film. Khan, 54, was adored in India despite not being a Bollywood heartthrob.




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Bollywood and Hollywood Actor Irrfan Khan Dies After A Long Illness

Indian actor Irrfan Khan, 54, who leaped from small parts in Bollywood films to featured roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Slumdog Millionaire and Jurassic World, has died after a long illness.




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'Fresh Air' Remembers Bollywood Icon Irrfan Khan

One of India's most beloved film stars, Khan, who died April 29, became internationally known for his work in films like Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi. Originally broadcast in 2012.




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Brian Dennehy's 'Driveways' Performance Is Gruff, Graceful — And A Goodbye

Dennehy, who died April 15, plays a suburban widower who befriends a mother and her son in one of his last films. It's the kind of deeply lived-in performance that Dennehy was known for.




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Grocery stores seeking masks for 'essential' workers confront shortages, federal interference

Weeks after the CDC said people should use masks to curb the coronavirus, grocery stores struggle to buy them for staff, partly due to U.S. actions.