Daily Archives: June 3, 2020

If you eat in fancy restaurants, Steak is always the top option for many, and one of the most expensive items on the menu. While this is all right from time to time, it can put a strain on your bank account as a routine event. Why not learn how to cook delicious steaks at home, rather than to get your fix in a restaurant? It not only saves you time but also allows you to improve your cooking skills. It sadly does not keep beginners from being frustrating and confusing.

You must begin with high-quality meat in order to cook the perfect Steak. This means bypassing the grocery store and turning for the butcher for organic cuts. Such cuts like a prime sirloin

are fresher, tastier, and great for you.

You have a juicer steak from the beginning with a cut of marbling more and a little extra fat, as opposed to a lean cut, mostly leading to a more dry steak. You can pick a small part of meat if youre worried about the fat content. Price over quantity is the golden rule for great Steak. If youre not concerned about fat, though, theres nothing more but a ribbon steak to make delicious and easy to cook.

You would not like to have hungry vampires bite your juicy fresh steaks, so make sure you cook your Steak, thoroughly rub it with freshly cut garlic cloves, on all sides, and on all edges. It not only preserves your beef but also adds a superb flavor to the Steak. Cut the clove and use the cut side for the full infusion of garlic.

Your mates here are sea salt and fresh ground pepper. This duo is not just an old staple in day-to-day cooking; it will give you the ideal roast you see only in steakhouses while coating your Steak with generously high Salt and pepper. Only add a little more when you think you put plenty of Salt and pepper.

There are many cuts for your nearest butchers to choose from. You can feel confused and nervous about what you are buying. Each cut is tailored to a number of styles and preparations, and the most expensive wont be the best choice. Explore the various cuts from prime sirloin

to flat steaks with your butcher. You should be able to provide you with precious details about which cut works best for your meal. You will also be able to suggest preparatory strategies and budget reductions. This may also be useful to find out where the name of the cut comes from.

The temperature spot is one of the most difficult things to cook your own Steak. The meat is overcooked and dry when its too warm. Not warm enough can result in the steak cooking being longer and in a too-rare and chewy steak. Investing in a steak thermometer is the perfect way to ensure the correct temperature. This will keep you from cooking your Steak over or when you are cooking it. About 54 degrees (129 degrees Fahrenheit) is considered to be the average temperature for a medium-rare steak. Understanding this then allows you to grow the right steak temperatures.

And maybe for your steak knives, you would like to invest in a knife sharpener. It is a safe rule to cut your Steak for a qualified finish, always against the grain.

It might seem accidental to freeze anything you want to fry, but it helps the juices to dry up after placing your Steak in the freezer for 45 minutes. Grills can reach temperatures at steakhouse levels, which snap the surface humidity to the Steak. Put the Steak on a cookie sheet with towels and place it in the freezer for 45 minutes to frost the Steak correctly. Be sure that the meat is not left for more than an hour or can start freezing. You can achieve the ideal crust by beginning with a dry steak.

First of all, heat a few tablespoons of oil in your oven. Then require your Steak to cook on both sides for between 3 and 5 minutes. It sears the Steak and helps to keep the taste good. It can be tempting to test again and again on your Steak while it is cooking. Gently shake the bowl to see if the Steak is going. If this is finished, then your Steak will be flipped on the other side and fried. The less you move and pick up your Steak, the more you get.

Theres another suggestion that any barbecue master will know if you really want to learn how to cook the Steak very well. This is the secret to knowing that everything youve done wasnt for nothing. You save a steak from dropping victims to a room temperature plate by placing the serving plate on a 350-degree oven for one minute. The last touch is this ancient restaurant tip. You got your dream steak finally!

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Beginner's Guide In Cooking The Perfect Steak - Taste Terminal

Catching Fire came out November 2013.

Mockingjay: Part I came out November 2014.

In between, Mike Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the Ferguson Uprising took place.

This essay is about what it was like to live in an America that can rapturously and enthusiastically consume and cosplay revolution, and can look on real world resistance with disdain.

The first installment in the Hunger Games cinematic franchise was compelling, to be sure, but it was admittedly a bit underwhelming. For a story about a nation that punishes its citizens by dividing them into districts and then pitting their children against each other in a televised battle to the death, the first movie seemed to intentionally shy away from capturing the heinous nature of it all. It was dust-bowl bleary, certainly, but Katniss home in District 12 felt like stylized, not institutionalized, poverty. Once in the actual arena, it even felt a bit bright and breezy, portraying fellow competitorsyou know, other children who were fighting to the deathas Katniss antagonists much of the time, and showing the Capitolthe seat of power responsible for all thisin short, visually captivating bursts, usually when Haymitch was soliciting donors to send Katniss gifts when she put on a good show.

Where the novel had been arresting, the first film went to great lengths to be another world, giving me pretty constant reprieves from the supposed oppressive injustice of Panem.

Catching Fire was the second novel in the Hunger Games trilogy, and it ground almost to a complete halt for me. Bluntly, Katniss performs a long, laborious, completely uncharacteristic wallowing act that felt very much like a middle book trying to rustle up enough story to justify the fact that there are three books. Because the hard part is apparently not being poor, oppressed, and living in a world where youre too disconnected from your fellow countrypeople to effectively fight back. The hard part is having to say youre in love with Peeta. She could not get into it, and I, in turn, could not get into that.

But the film adaptation. We bookish types like to bandy around mantras like the book was better, as though its a golden rule, like no film has ever improved on its source material. Thats just not true. I personally have several examples of movies that are better/more effective/more compelling than the novels that birthed them, and thats not even speaking to adaptations that are simply as good. Catching Fire, the movie, reined in Katnisss pity party and apparent willingness to jeopardize the family she went into the arena to save in the first place, and it made the games themselves feel real.

Importantly, it made the world in which the games could exist feel real. It was darker, and more violent and to be honest, I was kind of amazed at how well received it was. It was, after all, about a revolution in the making. It was about a police state, in which there were no devils advocates arguing that there might be a few bad apples spoiling the bunch, or a few good guys mistakenly on the wrong side. There was an oppressive, dehumanizing, antagonizing, intensely penalizing power majority that was altogether wrongand America celebrated it.

Three finger salutes went up all over the country.

Not only was it a hit, Catching Fire was praised for disallowing the viewer any distance from the violence. The District 11 execution that marks the first bloodshed in the film is heralded for being the focus of a steady frameas opposed to the shaky cam employed in the first movieand for being a moment during which Katniss was, as one review mentioned, made to fully realize the capability for cruelty inherent in the government of Panem. Yes, a set of doors closed before the bullet left the chamberits PG-13, friendsbut the effect was palpable. The viewer was spared neither that this was a full-scale terror, nor the immutable truth of the wrongness of military brutality being used against civilians.

That execution of the elderly Black man in that scene is meant to be impactful, but it knocked the wind out of me. It reminded me that in the real world, in real life, in my country, we have been terrorized by the repeated slaying of Black men, women, and children, at the hands of law enforcement. That in the film he was pulled from a crowd and made to kneel before being shot in the head did not feel fictionalized enough. It did not feel extreme or hyperbolic when as a child Id seen footage of four cops beating a man until he was disfigured and required mobility aids. A country that could see that, acquit the perpetrators, and then demonize the communitys response, was telling you that time does not heal institutional and intentional wounds. It might infantilize you with admonishments to leave the past behind, but there is a straight line between chattel slavery and Jim Crow and refusal of civil liberties and lynchings and overcriminalization and economic disenfranchisement and cultural erasure and sustained gaslighting and mocking the very concept of reparations. And so while someone divorced from the reality of incessant oppression can split hairs and argue semantics, for me, there was nothing sensational about that execution. That my country could be riveted by Catching Fires unapologetic centering of such a killingprovoked in the film by a whistle and a salute of solidarity that tacitly defied the Capitol, and carried out in front of his own community, as District 11 was apparently the Black districtfilled me with a wonderment, and a kind of cautious energy.

The optics hadnt been accidental.

The themes couldnt be overlooked.

Surely, all across the country, my real country, a realization wasforgive mecatching fire. Surely.

Fast-forward to August 2014, and the killing of Mike Brown. The first wave of the Ferguson Uprising, a series of riots that took place in Ferguson, Missouri over the course of the next five months, began the next day. It had been nine months since Catching Fire came out, but as the second film in a series, its popularity had persisted, as had its publicity. Surely, that same overflow of support and recognition was going to rise up, I thought. Surely people were going to raise their hands in solidarity, and disallow history to repeat itself. It wasnt going to be mostly Black Americans decrying this most recent slaying by a police officer. Surely the public wasnt going to stand for the victim blaming and character assassinations it had permitted in the past.

Then the nations most celebrated newspapers informed me that Mike Brown, the teenage victim, was no angel.

Then the media and various personalities denounced the communitys response, and the anger, and the riot.

Whatever hope Id nursed in those first awful hours bled out. Whatever I knew and believed about the socializing agent of entertainment media, and the fact that messaging is of paramount importance in either perpetuating the status quo or laying a foundation for re-education and enculturationit hadnt happened. If it takes exposure to get to awareness to get to empathy to get to solidarity to get to action, Americas progress was always slower than I wanted to believe.

By the second wave of the Ferguson Uprising, spurred by a grand jury declining to indict the officer responsible for Mike Browns death, it was November, and Mockingjay Part 1 was in theatres. Katniss Everdeen bellowed, If we burn, you burn with us, but outside the dark theater, the world did not come to Fergusons aid. The country did not rally to stand against the militarization of the police force, or the separate set of laws under which officers had proven to operate. Those who came did so to document, to photograph, to disseminate, and then to talk about it somewhere far away, from a distance that allowed civil discourse to seem like a solution. And while it would be unfair to say that Ferguson wasnt a come to Jesus moment for anyone, nothing swept the nation but viral images of alternately defiant and devastated protesters, of disproportionately equipped police officers and National Guard service people.

America, it turned out, was less concerned with the death and terrorization of its citizens even than Panem. Revolution was a high concept, meant for splashy acquisition deals that would become blockbuster YA novels and then glittering film adaptations. It was to be consumed, not condoned.

How very Capitol of us.

Recently the long-awaited prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy was finally teased, and it turned out that the protagonist at the center will be a young Coriolanus Snow. As in future president and villainous oppressor of Panem, Coriolanus Snow. And seeing as the author lives in the same America that I do, you know what? That tracks.

Itll make one hell of a movie.

Originally published in February 2020.

Bethany is a recovering expat splitting her time between Montreal, Quebec, and upstate New Yorkyet another foreign place. A California native, Bethany graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in Sociology (but took notable detours in the Film and Theatre departments). Following undergrad, she studied Clinical Psychological Research at the University of Wales, Bangor, in Great Britain before returning to North America to focus on her literary work. Her YA novel A Song Below Water publishes in June 2020 with Tor Teen.

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The Revolution Will Be Dramatized - tor.com

When I first saw the video, I thought it was egregious. We as a division at the department watched it together and not only did we all feel that it came to the same conclusion as it being egregious but that it was also criminal

The death of George Floyd has sparked outrage throughout the country. A man had lost his life due to four police officers who were fired shortly after. Only one has been arrested.

Almost every major city in America has had some form of protest or riot break out since Floyds death.

A lot of videos throughout social media depict riots everywhere you look, but it is also fair to look at many peaceful protests that took place as well over the weekend. Police Officers in some parts even joined in the protest.

The divide in this country is strong. I myself, looked for ways that I could help the situation at hand. I felt the best way I could help was to bring people on both sides of the aisle that were involved in this together.

So I went to the source. I sat down with Detective, Mike Spremulli, and Police Chief, Bill Nebus of the East Providence Police department to ask them what they saw in the video of Floyds murder, as well as proper protocol to handle difficult situations.

I then spoke with two ethnic minorities. Our own Chris Infante, of the Flippin the Birds Podcast, and Dwight Spencer, a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) for their own views.

My goal was to see just how steep this divide was in this country between officers and the citizens they swear to protect. This article is a cut-up version. To hear the full interviews, tune into the Birds in Focus Podcast here:

On the death of George Floyd

Detective Spremulli: When I first saw the video, I thought it was egregious. We as a division at the department watched it together and not only did we all feel that it came to the same conclusion as it being egregious but that it was also criminal. Its not something that we have been taught. Its not something that should be done, and to be honest with you in 22 years of police work, I have never seen anyone do that.

Police Chief Nebus: Just because youre in a police officers position, youre still human. Its unfortunate the outcome of this situation and even more unfortunate was the calm manner the officer used to describe the situationthats not a proper reform measure to take.

Chris Infante: In a word: despicable. For me personally, it hit two ways.It hit me as a minoritythere was no way for me to hear anything that deserved that course of action. The second way this hit me was because Im in a NYPD family. My father served in the NYPD for 29 yearsto see another horrible despicable cop tarnished what the real great officers go through every day

Dwight Spencer: When I first saw the video, I couldnt believe my eyes. To hear the events that happened during and after were quite disheartening. Its an on-going issue that is slowly coming off. More light is being shed on this issue to have the minorities to have their voices heard more.

What should have happened?

Spremulli: The first thing you should always do is descalate the situation. Hands-on is always the last approach. You try to talk the person down. Try to get their version of events. Try to get them to talk to you. You should never go to a hands-on situation.

Nebus: To me cops are inherently lazy. I dont mean that in a bad way but they would rather get the job done with the least amount of force required. Theyd rather go out and not have to arrest anybody during their shift. They would love to go through their shift with doing community kind of resource actions.you ask, how do you bridge the gap is exactly that: you care.the bottom line is caring. And if you care about each call you go on then your job becomes easier.

Infante: That knee on the neck did not expedite George Floyds underlying condition. That knee suffocated him and it killed him. The office charged had an agenda with him. The other officers should have stepped in and said nope there are other ways to restrain him.restrain him the correct way.

Is this a case of a few bad apples or is there a systemic problem?

Spencer: I do believe its a system that is the cause of the problem. I believe there is a clear divide between white officers and individuals in ethnic minority communities. Some people get afraid of what the consequence may be when they see a white police officer and the interaction they have. I do think that this is a system we have in place and I dont think its a democrat vs. republican thing.its a systematic thing that needs to be addressed between communities of color and law enforcement agencies.

Spremulli: I have been around where officers have been prosecuted. Ive testified where cops have been deemed to have done illegal or unethical things. As police officers were held to a higher standard.And we should be held to a higher standard because youre given a lot of power to go out and do this job. With that comes a lot of responsibility. Theres nobody that good cops hate more than bad cops. You have to uphold the oath that you took. And when you dont do that, to me, its worse than some of the criminals out there do.

With protests and riots going on in the city, how should they be handled by the police?

Spremulli: Theres a difference between protests and riots. I think everyone has the right to peacefully protest. From a personal standpoint, I dont blame them for protesting this incident. Like I said, this was an egregious act and was criminal. Probably 99.9% of officers feel the same way. I feel this could have been an opportunity to bridge the gap between police officers and the communities that have been affected. On this particular case we are all in agreement. We all agree the officers should have been prosecuted. Dealing with protesters and rioters are different. Rioters goal is not to go out there and get justice. The goal is to go out there and be disruptive and to create problems. We wouldnt allow people to come in and have their livelihood and businesses destroyed not because of the Floyd murder but to create problems.

Nebus: If a problem is perceived than the problem is real. If the police feel there isnt a divide in the community but the community feels there is one, its up to the police to fix that.

Infante: I think that you see some officers supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and walking around arm in arm with the protesters. In other cities the officers are meeting them with weapons. The protests turned to riots with the response to what they are greeted with. You saw Camden, of all places, had officers join with the protesters. If you are an officer and you treat the protesters as such, youll see a more peaceful approach. It turns to riots when the protesters see the riot shields and tear gases, and cars plowed through crowds. They see officers go after them before they do anything then it turns to riots because they feel targeted.

Spencer: So in Miami there was a peaceful protest yesterday that turned into a riot. The Mayor stated in a press conference that police wont come out in riot gear. They will instead be of assistance and aid to the peaceful protests. But particularly there was a few bad apples that came into the community and well try to cause harm to police carswhat I say to that is those individuals who are inciting violence should be met with the full extent of the law. You have a right to have your voice heard but your voice should be heard that does not disrupt the livelihood of others. With the pandemic cities and states are slowly reopening yet you have these individuals who set businesses on fire and all you are doing is prolonging a pandemic that is now turning from a health ad justice crisis that I believe it is in the polices right to make an example of those that are causing harm.

White athletes spoke out against the Floyd murder around the country. Do you feel as professional athletes they should protest the situation?

Spremulli: Absolutely. Everyone has the right to protest as long as its not violating someone elses rights. I can understand there is anger behind this incident. They have every right to come out and express their opinion.

Spencer: There is the age old cliche. Sports bridge the gap and become that safe haven for people to get their mind off things. We need these influences because people look at these players as role models. The fact that athletes speak out against these injustices actually I believe is a good thing to look up to their role models. They actually care about the injustices that are going on.

Is there a difference between what athletes like Carson Wentz and Zach Ertz are saying as opposed to what Colin Kaepernick is saying?

Spremulli: I saw the most recent tweet that he was encouraging the riots and not just the protests. It was far different than other comments like what Ben Watson was saying. Watson wasnt divisive but educational. Its that difference that I see that are bringing an issue to what is an injustice.

Infante: I think there is a difference. the way that other athletes are talking now was what Colins original message was. If Colin wasnt ridiculed or sent out of the league because of it,we probably wouldnt have had an issue now. What Colin is saying now is that you didnt listen before and now we need to take action. Thats different from what Carson or Zach are saying because both dont see the point in burning down businesses.At the same time, what action is going to be taken with businesses that have nothing to do with the issue itself. I understand the fires that are starting are not necessarily the protesters themselves. When you see athletes like Colin saying to keep rioting it is a little disheartening because you see a guy who worked so hard to do the right thing when he knelt but dont say to destroy cities because it opens up more problems. You cant fix institutional racism in a burning building. More athletes though are speaking to his original message though.

Spencer: I believe they are all in the same boat. Colin has a bit more leverage because people see hi as a civil rights activist. I believe that all these athletes are in the same boat. Their words are the same even if it is demonstrated differently but they all have the same meaning. In the case of Colin hes been raising this issue for years now, but regardless ones message of the other they all ring the same message.

What would be your message to the country?

Spencer: My message would be to listen and learn. A lot of these riots in the past have stemmed from a sense of anger and I believe its ok to be angry. There has to come a time where you listen and learn. Theres a reason why these demonstrations are taking place. As a black African young male I dont believe that saying Black Lives Matter on social media is enough. We need to become leaders and listen and learn from what others are saying right now.

Spremulli: Back to what I said earlier: 99.9% of the police officers are good. They try to do the right thing. To a person, everyone that I have spoken to, everyone I have heard from condemns these actions. I have not seen anyone supportive of the murder of Floyd..You have the right to critique, the right to question but they should also understand that those actions of the officers in Minnesota are not indicative of the rest of the officers outside of there. When it turns to violence thats where it has to stop.

Nebus: We care as a community. We want this problem resolved. We want the perceptions to go away. We dont want to be generalized and we dont want to generalize others. Whatever we can do to bridge this gap we will do it.

Infante: We are in a country that has opened the door to immigrants. We are a melting pot of ideas but the The American Dream doesnt come back until conversations happen and people start understanding each other more.racism wont end until we have conversations about these issues. If you know someone doesnt like you because of the color of your skin then talk to them. Sit and have the conversation with them and talk.

Starting a dialogue between officers and the people they swear to protect is the first step of making a change. Let this episode of the Birds in Focus be not something that tells you what or how to think, but gets the conversation going in how best to improve the society we live in.

First above all else is treating others the way you want to be treated. The Golden Rule is something that we all learn when we are little, yet most forget it as life goes on. During this difficult time in our countries history, I feel its more important than ever that the Golden Rule is highlighted and followed once again.

Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY NETWORK

Nick Faria is currently a Marketing Coordinator for ESPN in Bristol, CT. A graduate from Hofstra University in New York, he is a two-time Associated Press Award winning reporter with experience in all four major sports in America. On top of his experience as a reporter and writer. Nick was born in Rhode Island but has a strong background around the Philadelphia Eagles, and other teams in the city of brotherly love. Nick is excited to take the next step in his professional career with Philly Sports Network!

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Divided We Fall: Creating a Constructive Dialogue - Philly Sports Network

I referred a few days ago to the golden rule of spotting scam emails. If it begins Dear Customer or similar, be wary. As a rule, genuine emails will contain your name. A reader tells me he has received a long email from EasyJet, described as personal, explaining and apologising for the highly sophisticated computer hack which compromised the personal data of nine million passengers. It begins: Dear Customer.

Lockdown-reading corner. I've just finished H E Bates's novel, Love for Lydia. Not many laughs in that. The image of poor Lydia wasting away is a useful reminder that while a pandemic may be something new, well within living memory British people lived in mortal dread of tuberculosis, with thousands packed off, coughing blood, to isolation hospitals. If it didn't kill you, TB could weaken you for life.

Once virtually eliminated, TB still affects about 5,000 Brits a year. Like coronavirus, TB preys on males, the elderly and the poor living in sub-standard housing. We can only hope that in focusing so many resources on Covid-19, the NHS doesn't take its eye off this older and deadly contagion.

I have watched dozens of juries at work, served on a jury, been the foreman of a jury. Those experiences have not made me a great fan of trial by jury. In normal times the judgment of Twelve good men and true is probably the best solution a democracy will accept, but these are not normal times and a backlog of 40,000 criminal cases has built up.

So here's a plan. Until the backlog is cleared, instead of trying to make courtrooms safe and socially-spaced for the jury, why not scrap juries for a while and have trial by judges sitting alone? I can foresee some resistance from defence lawyers who specialise in persuading gullible juries that hardened criminals are as pure as the driven snow. As a rule, juries do not recognise the faces of defendants and can be easily swayed. But a judge may well remember the bloke in the dock as the rapist he jailed for life ten years ago and I dare say that may influence his views. This may result in more convictions. Oh dear, how sad, what a shame.

I don't want to spread alarm but the ground is parched and there's no rain forecast for at least the next week. Remember all that water, millions of tons of the stuff, that fell on us six months ago? I hope they've put it somewhere safe.

Meanwhile, buried under the avalanche of coronavirus reports, scientists may have found the answer to a puzzle that has bewildered us ever since humans first encountered otters. Why do they (the otters, not the humans) juggle pebbles on their tummies? Having studied these creatures at length, researchers at the University of Exeter have concluded that otters juggle pebbles when they are hungry. We can all sleep soundly tonight.

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Peter Rhodes on otters, trials without juries and the lurking menace of TB - shropshirestar.com

Bora-Hansgrohe's Emanuel Buchmann thought he had smashed the record for the fastest-ever Everesting attempt - only to be told his attempt was invalid due to a technicality in the rules.

Buchmann, who rode to fourth at last year's Tour de France, took on the task of climbing 8,848m - the elevation of Mount Everest - in one continuous ride as a drive to raise money for German children's charity Deutsche Kinderhilfswerk.

The previous record for the fastest Everesting attempt had recently been set by young American mountain biker Keegan Swenson who had completed the challenge in a time of 7 hours, 40 minutes.

WorldTour rider Buchmann then smashed Swenson's time by a full 14 minutes, setting a new impressive benchmark of 7 hours, 28 minutes.

However, the 27-year-old's incredible efforts have since been declared invalid after he breached two of the challenge's golden rules.

First, as per the guidelines set out by challenge creators Hells 500, any Everesting attempt has to take place entirely on the same ascent.

Buchmann breached this by completing his first ascent on the Ochsengarten climb, just out of Oetz in Austria, before descending its north side to then complete eight repetitions of the Heimelerberg climb to tick off the necessary elevation.

Secondly, it also turns out that Buchmann's time was invalid as the Hells 500 team take the Strava elapsed time as opposed to moving time. With this considered, Buchmann actually completed the task in a time of 7 hours, 53 minutes: 13 minutes slower than Swenson.

Therefore, with both rule breaches, Buchmann's efforts were struck from the record.

A shame considering the exceptional effort put out from the Grand Tour contender whose seven and a half hours in the saddle contributed to a total of 162km covered at an average speed of 21.7kmh.

What's more, Buchmann's choice of hill was also not for the faint of heart with the Heimelerberg averaging 11% for a full 9.41km, stats that see it come out harder than the likes of the Passo Giau. And to ensure he could get close to the record, Buchmann pushed a uniform 300 to 310w average on all eight ascents of the climb.

While Buchmann's not officially the record holder, he will likely be proud of the 17,000 raised for charity and ticking off a challenge that he ranks, in terms of difficulty, alongside the Tour de France.

'That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I didn't think it would hurt so much towards the end,' explained Buchmann after completing the challenge.

'At the beginning, I found a good rhythm and then decided to push hard. After 7000m of climbing completed, I started feeling my muscles. I am not used to this amount of workload and it started to hurt a lot. The last 1000m have been cruel. But there were also some fans out there and their support pushed me toward the finish.'

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Emanuel Buchmann sets new Everesting record - only for it to be ruled invalid - Cyclist

How to Choose Glass that Prevents Birds from Colliding with Buildings

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Did you know that World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated in the second week of May?

Every year around this date, festivals, educational events, exhibitions, and excursions are organized to celebrate and raise awareness about the conservation of migratory birds. These species have seen their habitats transformed during the last few decades in part because of human action: designers and real estate agents have built and nurtured an urban imaginary dominated by glass structures as a symbol of power and progress. Before proceeding with the conquest of the sky, it is worth considering somematerials that are more friendly to the species with which we cohabitate.

The problem is very simple: birds cannot see glass as a solid object, but only recognize what is reflected in it. Whether it is a tree or a piece of the sky, they do not identify the obstacle as a danger and as a result collide with it, with the risk of dying. Academics estimate that, in the United States alone, between 100 million and one billion birds die yearly, while in Canada, the number is around 25 million. Although specific data is difficult to obtain, it is clear that the migration period is the most dangerous for the birds, as they find themselves in front of tall buildings in unknown territories.

From mid-rise buildings to skyscrapers, the structures we create can become a death trap for hundreds of bird species around the world. Since 1970, more than three billion birds have disappeared in the north of the American continent, due, among other things, to the transformation and urbanization of their habitats (the most affected territories being forests and coastal areas). Although parks, forests, and gardens may be spaces committed to species conservation at the urban level, these deaths are often preventable through simple design decisions and choosing the right products.

Glassbeing the main problem, it is possible to find variants in the market that make it easier for birds to identify a glazed surface, including options that make it visible to them without distorting what humans see.

Transparent Alternatives

One of the options is to add a coating to the glass that reflects ultraviolet light, which will be practically invisible to humans but always visible to birds. The technology is incorporated into the laminated glass in a sheet, almost imperceptible to the human eye in dry conditions.

Some specialists also consider photovoltaic glass a bird-friendly option. This type of glass contains cells that accumulate energy to generate electricity, which is incorporated onto the glass in a photovoltaic sheet by means of electronic printing. Different levels of transparency can be obtained, including fully transparent options that are compatible with films that reflect ultraviolet light. However, it is important to consider that bird nests and other interferences can negatively impact the glass' ability to generate energy.

Translucent Alternatives

There are numerous techniques for incorporating visible patterns into glass. One such solution is ceramic printing. Depending on the supplier, you can choose colors, regulate the opacity of the ink, and opt for decorative patterns. Advances in technology for screen printing on glass (silk-screening) allow for varied decoration styles superior to traditional engraving techniques (etched glass). Today, ceramic printing on glass offers both the possibility of silk-screening a design using a template (the oldest form of glass printing still in use) or doing it by digital printing, which is more flexible than silk-screening. The choice between the two methods is usually based on considerations such as location, quantity, image, sustainability, and function, though they may also be used as complementary techniques.

If the designer and client are open to glass that is not fully transparent, there are two additional options: dichroic glass and translucent glass. Dichroic glass is multi-colored, produced by stacking and alternating layers of glass along with micro-layers of quartz glass and metal oxides to achieve theappearance of changing colors by transmitting and reflecting light, like a kaleidoscope. Translucent glass can either be channel or fritted glass, and is porous and opaque, produced by subjecting the glass to thermal melting. In some cases, it can have a load-bearing capacity and be designed in curved or textured forms.

Whichever option you choose, the design of the pattern to be incorporated into the glass is of paramount importance. A study by Dip-Tech, endorsed by the American Bird Conservancy, has shown that patterns with randomly arranged triangles are more effective than homogeneous colored dots or stripes. The golden rule is to follow a "2x4" inch spacing: the marks are to be added on the plane with a spacing of two inches horizontally and four inches vertically. Birds tend to avoid gaps of these dimensions, so a stricter "2x2" rule will ensure the inclusion of smaller species.

Cities that have incorporated this concern into their regulations have defined a range of solutions. In the case of San Francisco, 90% of glazed buildings over 18 metres adhere to these regulations. According to Dip-Tech, and contrary to what one might think, the collision zone is not the highest area of the building, but rather the floors thebirds hitwhen they fly down to rest. Although there are still not enough regulations and the vast majority are in North America, there are also certifications in countries without these regulations that recognize this type of initiative and help suppliers certify their products.

There are other lower priority factors such as lighting and window design that can contribute to the solution for this problem. The window frame can be an ally in making the faade more identifiable, while artificial light disorients the birds and causes them to collide with objects. Adding temporary solutions such as curtains, plants, or accessories are also an option. However, solutions that are sustainable over time must be incorporated from the beginning of the design process.

Although most of the information and institutions in charge of this problem are in North America, birds connect the world through migration. Concern about this phenomenon is not only a problem of respect for the environment, but also reflects that the increase of biodiversity is necessary for our own survival: birds are pollinating agents, distribute seeds, and control insect pests. Now is as good a time as ever to question the conventional use of materials and to pay attention to their negative consequences. If you are designing a glazed project, consider these solutions before October, the date of the second annual migration.

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How to Choose Glass that Prevents Birds from Colliding with Buildings - ArchDaily