Category Archives: Immortality

As a serious lover of coffee, and as a mortal, I read the headline with interest: People With Daily Intake Of 1.5 to 3.5 Cups Of Coffee Less Likely To Die.

I find this headline problematic on several levels. First, its lousy capitalization. No matter which style manual you use, this title has problems.

But you see the bigger problem, dont you? I suspect that your experience is the same as mine, and Im telling no secrets here. But, in my experience, though I find coffee beneficial on many levels, no matter how much of it anyone drinks, everyone dies100%.

I found the same headline showing up on other news outlets (sometimes with better capitalization), and they added two words, by 30%.

That confuses me even more. Does that mean only 30% of the people who are somewhat serious coffee drinkers might not die? Even the lower percentage would be impressive. Sort of like saying that Ive had three dogs, but only one of them could speak coherently. But, sadly, even the lower percentage, both of coffee drinkers and talking dogs, flies in the face of reality.

If you read further, youll discover that the study was done in China. The thugs in charge there lie as often as they tell the truth, but I figure this is accurate.

Chinese scientists monitored 171,000 people for seven years. At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had cancer or heart disease. According to Luke Andrews, the health reporter for DailyMail.com, the research team found those who regularly drank coffee were about a third less likely to die than those who did not.

Does that help explain? Not by much.

The article goes on to tell us that the researchers found that it didnt matter whether the coffee was plain or sweetened with sugar.

Well, at least theres that. But I still find the explanation lacking.

Reading on, I learn that during the seven-year study, the deaths that occurred numbered 3,177 (including 1,725 from cancer and 628 from heart disease).

It seems that simply drinking hot drinks lowered mortality somewhat, but the participants who reported at the start of the study that they drank 1.5 to 3.5 cups of coffee daily, well, they were 30% less likely to die during the seven years.

The researchers went on to mention (this is my paraphrase) that many health benefits have previously been reported in studies regarding coffee. (Ive been noting those for years.) But this study was not specifically designed to study coffee consumption. Their coffee discovery was just observational, a surprise, and they are drawing no major conclusions from it.

If youre interested, do a web search (plugging in something like 1.5 to 3.5 cups of coffee), and you can read a lot more.

For my part, Ill add this information regarding the benefits of coffee to my personal stash of such material. Ive felt better for a long time now knowing that my love for coffee has been good for me, not that Id have stopped drinking it if the evidence had pointed in the other direction.

Ever since health evidence mistakenly touted margarines benefits over butter and thus robbed me of years of buttery flavor my policy regarding most health news is watchful waiting. I can usually wait out the reports I dont like. Since they change more easily and quickly than Im willing to change my habits, this approach has worked well. Folks who worry too much about such are more likely to die early of stress than those of us who dont. Thats my own study.

With regard to coffee, which I hold in very high regard, I cant imagine how anyone wakes up, thinks, or writes without it.

But the truth is that my interest in this particular coffee article waned a good bit after I realized that the study isnotindicating any sort of immortality connected to coffee consumption.

Im OK with that. In this present world, enoughs enough. And I am completely convinced that the Author of life has the ultimate immortality thing well in hand.

Curtis Shelburne writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at:

[emailprotected]

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Faith: God is the ultimate authority on immortality - easternnewmexiconews.com

Update: Netflix has confirmed to us on July 26th that Wild Things: Animal Adventures is launching in August in place of Twelve Minutes which has been delayed to a later date. Updated story below.

Netflix just revealed four games coming to the service next month. The Netflix Games August 2022 additions include the FMV game Immortality from Sam Barlow (Her Story, Telling Lies), the party charades game Heads Up!, Wild Things: Animal Adventures, and the 3D adventure game Rival Pirates. These will all be arriving soon. The interactive movie trilogy Immortality was originally due this month, but was delayed to next month. A definite date hasnt been announced for it yet. The Netflix version of Heads Up! will include decks based on Netflix titles. Watch the Immortality trailer below:

Following the announcement of the four games included, Netflix confirmed to us that Twelve Minutes will not be releasing on mobile next month through Netflix Games. Instead, Wild Things: Animal Adventures from Jam City, a match-3 puzzler, will be arriving on the service. All four of August 2022s additions to Netflix are coming soon, and they will be joining the recently released and amazing Poinpy and Into the Breach. Netflix is bringing the kind of games youd see from Apple Arcade if Apple hadnt switched over to more engagement-focused titles. So many great indie games have been announced already, with more to come this year. Ive already played some of them on console, but love checking out more high quality indies on mobile. What are you looking forward to on Netflix this year when it comes to new games?

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Netflix Games August 2022: Immortality, Wild Things: Animal Adventures, Rival Pirates, and Heads Up Announced (Update) TouchArcade - Touch Arcade

The Guinness World Records has a new record-breaking diamond ring, thanks to a Kerala-based jeweller. This mushroom-shaped diamond ring from Kerala has broken the record for the most diamonds set in one ring.

This was recorded in Karathode, Kerala, on May 5, 2022. According to Guinness World Records, this mushroom-shaped diamond ring is set with 24,679 natural diamonds. The ring is aptly titled Ami, which means immortality in Sanskrit. The ring is based on the shape of a pink oyster mushroom, as the mushroom represents immortality and longevity. The ring also entails a quote from SWA Diamonds Managing Director Abdul Gafur Anadiyan.

A lot of thought and hard work was put into the making of the ring. Not to forget, time too. It took the jeweller three months to make this ring. According to Guinness World Records, After 3D printing, liquid gold was then poured into the mould, cooled and filed into the overall shape of 41 unique mushroom petals. With the base complete, each diamond was then meticulously placed by hand on each side of the mushroom petals. Natural diamonds were used.

With a hefty price tag of $ 95,243 (approx. RM424,640), the ring weighs 340 grams, which is three-quarters of a pound. The Guinness record was awarded to the mushroom-shaped ring from Kerala after it was verified by a team of independent gemologists. After this, the number of diamonds was counted by Guinness officials using a microscope, who also evaluated and confirmed the clarity, carat, weight, cut type and the type of diamonds used.

This record was previously held by Meerut-based businessman Harshit Bansal, who had achieved the title in 2020 for his floral design bejewelled with 12,638 diamonds.

Hero Image: Courtesy SWA Diamonds, Featured Image: Courtesy SWA Diamonds

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Heres why this mushroom-shaped diamond ring from Kerala broke the world record - Lifestyle Asia Kuala Lumpur

Blackburn Roverswon the Premier League in 1995, pipping a dominant Manchester United side to the post but can you name the Rovers XI from the match that sealed the title on the final day?

Blackburn were on the cusp of greatness before the 1994-95 season; theyd finished second the year before and owner Jack Walker had invested heavily in both the playing staff and manager Kenny Dalglish.

And Blackburn set the pace for most of the season, playing some sublime football along the way and opening up an eight-point lead over United by the middle of April.

Defeats against Manchester City and West Ham allowed United to close the gap but Rovers entered the final day of the season knowing that victory at Liverpool would seal their first league title since 1914.

In the event, Blackburn lost 2-1 at Anfield with Jamie Redknapp scoring a last-minute winner. But United were held to a draw at West Ham, meaning Dalglishs side had won the league by a single point.

Rovers never came close to retaining their title and were relegated in 1999, adding to the sense of immortality about their achievement and were asking you to name the XI that clinched the title at Anfield in May 1995.

Its a line-up packed full of Premier League legends but there are some unfamiliar names sprinkled around too. The score to beat from the Planet Football office is 03:13.

And, if this gets you in the mood for another quiz, have a go atnaming every player to score 10 or more Premier League goals in 2008-09.

If youve not already, sign up for a Planet Sport account to access hints for those tricky answers, to reveal the ones youve missed, and to register your score on the leaderboard. Registering is free, fast, and gets you access to old articles as well as site personalisation and competitions.

Good luck, and dont forget to tweet us your scores@planetfutebol.

Can you name Blackburns XI that won the League Cup final in 2002?

Can you name every club to ever appear in the Premier League?

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Can you name the Blackburn XI that clinched the Premier League title in 1995? - Planet Football

As we head towards completing 50 years of tiger conservation in India, Taj Safaris, India's first and only luxury wildlife circuit, celebrates International Tiger Day by providing viewers a peek into the wondrous realm of the animal kingdom. Indulge in engaging talks about wildlife through the four-part webinar series, Nature Talks with Taj Safaris hosted from July 29 to September 4 passionately narrated by expert naturalists sharing first-hand knowledge on subjects that seek to build awareness.

An Ode To 'Collarwali' by naturalist Kopal Thakur from Baghvan, A Taj Safari Pench National Park, will take you back in time where Collarwali, the iconic tigress attained immortality in the teak forests of Pench. Unravel the life of successful predators as the Whistling Hunters of Central India by naturalist Yajuvendra from Banjaar Tola, A Taj Safari - Kanha National Park brings alive the magic of the Indian jungles.

Get acquainted with the prowess of preservation, civilization's ethics of co-existence with nature and the commitment to reverse the looming decline of multiple species from our wild heritages with naturalist Ramesh from Mahua Kothi, A Taj Safari Bandhavgarh National Park on Conservation Success Stories of India. Lastly, The Flying Rulers by Naturalist Tarun from Pashan Garh, A Taj Safari - Panna National Park will take you soaring into the world of some of the most endangered birds on the planet.

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International Tiger Day: Take A Walk In The Wild With These Nature Talks - Outlook India

The sanctuary at Brauron, not far from Athens, was the site of an important cult to Artemis. There are impressive reconstructed remains of the temple to the goddess and the three-sided stoa, which would have served as the cafeteria area, as well as the sacred spring. Visitors can cross the only stone bridge that survives from ancient Greece, complete with grooves like trolley-tracks to ease the path of wheels, indicating the number of trips made by expensive vehicles, laden with food and clothing as well as worshippers. The Athenian elite brought their tween daughters from the temple of Artemis on the Acropolis to the temple at Brauron to take part in various rituals, including a large festival known as the Brauronia. It was held every four years and involved the ritual presentation of garments to the goddess, the grinding of grain and the dedication of toys and dolls, which the girls gave up to symbolise the end of childhood and the prospect of marriage.

The little museum at Brauron contains a rich collection of archaeological finds: jewellery, statues and reliefs representing the procession of worshippers laden with offerings. The most affecting exhibits are the toys discovered in the rich mud around the site: knuckle bones, little carts with wheels (even before cars, kids played with toy cars) and dolls with articulated limbs that look very like Yoga Barbie (these dolls, like their modern counterparts, would have come with stylish interchangeable outfits). The marshy soil of the spring, into which many small, precious offerings were thrown, enabled the preservation of an extraordinarily high number of wooden artefacts, including fragments of chests or boxes and a female statuette perhaps representing the statue of Artemis supposedly brought to Brauron by Iphigenia, to whom there was also a cult on this site.

According to myth, Artemis refused to grant the Greek forces a favourable wind to set sail for Troy because Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, had killed her sacred deer. She required him to make a terrible sacrifice: he must kill his own daughter, Iphigenia, to pay for fair passage to Troy, or lose his chance to enrich and empower himself by a great military victory. The slaughter of Iphigenia foreshadows the massacre and enslavement of many more civilians during the Trojan War, and sets in motion Agamemnons own death at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra, in revenge for their daughter. The murder of daughter by father represents the tension within ancient Athenian society between loyalty to the household, including the women of the family, and loyalty to the public community, dominated by men. Aeschylus version of the myth, in the Agamemnon, presents the sacrifice of Iphigenia as the primary dilemma on which a new model of patriarchal democratic politics must eventually be founded. It is both a choice and no choice at all: the girl is bound and gagged before being killed, but her father, too, is bound by the yoke of necessity. Euripides later interpretation, Iphigenia at Aulis, composed towards the end of the Peloponnesian War (which Athens would lose), ascribes more agency and more self-delusion to the callous father and to his idealistic, self-sacrificing child, and finds in the myth a dark picture of selfish, over-privileged men who value their own interests and reputations over the lives of young people. But there was another version of the story. In it, Agamemnons attempt to kill his daughter did not result in her death, because the goddess, at the last moment, switched the girl for a deer, and transported Iphigenia to Tauris on the Black Sea, where she became a priestess, and from where she was eventually rescued by her long-lost brother, Orestes, who helped her escape to Brauron, bringing with her a sacred statue of Artemis.

The existence of multiple Iphigenia myths speaks to one of the central anxieties for any parent of a daughter: will the transition to adulthood inevitably mean less freedom (the gag in her mouth and around her limbs) and more danger, both from men in positions of political power and from men in her own household? Can mothers save daughters from fathers and husbands? What will happen to our wild ones? Will they be tamed, and broken by the taming? The girls who went to ancient Brauron to undergo the symbolic loss of their girlhood would have known that for them, as for their mothers, marriage might well mean death. Many would already have lost their own mothers or aunts or cousins to childbirth: part of the festival involved offering up these womens garments to the goddess. Contemplating the rockfall beside the cave, I found it easy to imagine the worshippers and mourners crowded in that dark, narrow space, a memorial to the pain, constraint and danger that attend on those who bleed. Artemis, an immortal virgin, goddess of the menstrual moon, was also the Olympian most closely associated with childbirth and gynaecological ailments, and the worshippers at the temple would have included adult women who stood in need of her protection, and her power to punish men who overstepped the mark.

The version of the myth in which Iphigenia manages to get away from her father offers a glimpse of hope or a fantasy of escape from patriarchal danger, the prospect that girls or women might somehow activate a different kind of power. The ancient initiates at Brauron were called little bears or bear-cubs (arktoi), and they seem to have pretended to be bears, perhaps with the help of masks and costumes a reference to another myth about the killing of an animal sacred to Artemis, a bear, and also a hint at their ferocity and strength. Bears are rare in modern Greece, and we didnt see any when I visited last month. The sun was too high in the sky for most of the wild creatures favoured by Artemis, the lady of wild things, potnia theron; all the rabbits and mice were hiding in the undergrowth. I went to Brauron with the poet Alicia Stallings, who recently translated the Batrachomyomachia, or The Battle between the Frogs and the Mice, an ancient mock-epic that reduces the Iliads grand meditation on the relationship between rage, violence and grief to a miniature scale, and reimagines Iliadic warriors as tiny animals, fully anthropomorphised and equipped with feelings of sorrow, anger, curiosity and xenophobia (as well as ingeniously scaled-down Homeric weapons). Walking through the marshes, we searched for toads or frogs, hoping to catch a glimpse of the treacherous, amphibian villains of the Batrachomyomachia lurking in the creek, or to hear their croaky song (Brekekekex, koax, koax!). No frogs sang for us. But there were dragonflies, whirring like drones through the thick rushes, tiny lizards on the rocks, sparrows chattering amid the ruins, bright red, blue and yellow flowers growing in the stones around the shrine and at last, at the edge of the path, a large snake slithering into the long grass, perhaps on its way to shed its skin and become its new self.

Shades of the prison-house begin to close/Upon the growing boy, the speaker laments in Wordsworths Immortality Ode. In most societies, constrictions of much more obvious kinds close in around growing girls. Several Hellenistic epigrams from the Greek Anthology evoke the transition from girlhood to womanhood, and hint at the vulnerability and loss of freedom that this will entail. Here is one, dating to around 100 BCE, by Antipater of Sidon. The poem is in the voice of the young girls headband, now set aside so that the teenagers wild hair can be constrained by the headgear of an adult woman.

The girl with thick, abundant hair, named Pony,has tied it back, and washed her scented face,because her time of marriage has arrived.I am the headband that she used to wear,but I require the fun and games of girlhood.Artemis, grant the child of Lycomedesmarriage and offspring, in your kindness, please,now she has given up her knuckle bones.

Perhaps the headband has an ulterior motive for presenting the transition to a different form of headgear as one involving constraint and loss. But the poem also hints that there may be a difference between the perspective of the girl herself and that of her father, who wants her to produce offspring to continue his line.

Alicia and I both have tween daughters. They were not with us on the trip, but it was easy to imagine them scrambling over the ruins (which is of course forbidden) or going into bored adolescent sulks as the adults talked on. It was easy, too, to imagine their ancient counterparts, dressed in the yellow saffron dresses approved by the goddess, roaming over the marshes looking for frogs and snakes and tadpoles, climbing rocks and wading into the muddy water, competing in races, dressing up and doing one anothers hair, and forming intense and complex friendships. Alicias poem Verge, about an earlier trip to Brauron, asks the goddess to allow her daughter to keep her wildness: Leave in her something else, unnamed,/Untrammelled, liminal, untamed.

I remember being told, when I first got my period, You are now a woman, and then warned not to clog the toilet. The social pressure to inhabit this new identity, woman, seemed to be somehow intertwined with the pain and the mess. My primary source of comfort during the miserable period of early adolescence was my pet rabbit, an animal favoured by Artemis (my children have goddess-approved pet rats). Back home in West Philadelphia, I went with my two younger children (aged twelve and eleven) to a modern version of the Brauronia: a period party. Our ritual was organised by Tara Rubenstein, the leader of a youth group called Artemis Pack, intended for girls, non-binary and gender-queer kids aged between seven and fourteen. Not all the kids who participated in the ceremony were girls; one was a trans boy, several were gender-fluid or non-binary or demi-girl; non-menstruators were also welcome.

The period party began with the younger kids anointing the older ones with glitter and perfume before they gathered around the fire pit. Each in turn took a pinch of scented herbs and scattered them into the fire to say goodbye to childhood a ritual borrowed from the Brauronia. The kids seemed for the most part eager to embrace their maturity (and excited at the opportunity to play with fire). Each parent also took a pinch and gave it to the fire, to renounce (less happily) their childrens childhoods. Each not-quite-adult was given red ribbons to plait, reminding them that they can choose how to braid the strands of their own life and which traditions, values and relationships they want to carry forward. There was a ritual sip of red wine (a thrillingly taboo moment for 12-year-olds) and then the kids were wrapped together in a huge green blanket, before it was released to let them out into the world.

The last element of the ceremony is different every year, because it is a response to the social and political issues that might affect a person at the very beginning of adult life. Last year, they meditated on the California wildfires. This year, the topic was the abolition of the constitutional right to abortion in the US. The physical violation of forced pregnancy, and its numberless medical, financial, social and psychological consequences, will become inescapable for many. It is hard not to be enraged by the hypocrisy and callousness of the removal of the option of safe, legal abortion from those who need it. Will my beautiful, wild, quirky kids and their friends be able to find a way out of the gags and the nets cast around their bodies, and hold onto their magical strangeness, their autonomy, their freedom?

At the end of the ceremony, we ate vagina-shaped pasta stuffed with tomato sauce and a cake, constructed with great care by one of my children, that oozed sticky red jam. I imagined the embarrassment and mockery that would have greeted this in the Oxford of my childhood and hoped that the goddess might send us a sign of her favour. Just then, a groundhog ran through the weeds at the bottom of the garden. Even in Pennsylvania, Artemis is with us.

Excerpt from:

Emily Wilson Diary: Artemis is with us LRB 4 August 2022 - London Review of Books

When horses achieve greatness, or accomplish particularly memorable feats, it is customary for stakes races to be named in their honor. Across the country, there are races the bear the names of legends like Man o War, Secretariat, Kelso, and Cigar; even more recent greats like Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra, and Wise Dan are remembered with stakes races.

Every summer, Saratoga Race Coursein New York hosts the Jim Dandy Stakes, a major prep for the prestigious Travers Stakes later in the Saratoga meet. It is only fitting that the Jim Dandy Stakes is a prep for the Travers, since it was in the 1930 Travers that an unassuming 3-year-old chestnut colt pulled off one of the most astonishing upsets in the history of horse racing to ensure that his name would never be forgotten.

His name, naturally, was Jim Dandy. His sire father) was Jim Gaffney, winner of the 1907 Hopeful Stakes and a successful stallion that had already sired the 1923 Preakness Stakes winner Vigil. Jim Dandys dam (mother) was Thunderbird, a daughter of the very successful sire Star Shoot, and further back in Jim Dandys pedigree were the names of many other famous horses, including Epsom Derby winner Bend Or, English Triple Crown winner Isinglass, and the remarkable U.S. sire Lexington.

This was a remarkable contrast to 1930s leading 3-year-old Gallant Fox, a seemingly unbeatable colt that had won the Wood Memorial in his seasonal debut before adding the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes to sweep the Triple Crown. Showing no signs of slowing down, Gallant Fox won the Dwyer Stakes by 1 lengths so easily that his Daily Racing Form past performances include the notation loafed, and two weeks later, he won the rich Arlington Classic then worth more than any of the Triple Crown races by a neck after a long stretch battle.

Much like 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Gallant Fox was a rising star making history with every startas he headed to Saratoga for the prestigious Travers Stakes on Aug. 16, and there were few people that believed Gallant Fox could be beaten. He had it all excellent early speed, a powerful finishing kick, and proven ability on both fast and wet tracks. He would be facing only three rivals in the Travers, and only one Whichone, the leading 2-year-old of 1929 and a winner of three straight races at Saratoga was expected to have a chance of pulling off an upset.

The odds reflected this confidence. Gallant Fox was made the heavy favorite at 1-2 while Whichone was sent off at 8-5 and third choice Sun Falcon was 30-1. Jim Dandy? No one thought he had a chance, and his odds were a staggering 100-1.

But then two factors combined to dramatically change the complexion of the race. First, rain reduced the track to a muddy, wet mess officially labeled heavy, a condition deeper and wetter than Gallant Fox was used to encountering.

Secondly, when the horses were sent on their way at the start of the race, Whichone showed more early speed than in the past and engaged Gallant Fox in a tremendous battle for the lead.

All of thesudden, a speed duel was underway.

Sonny Workman, the jockey of Whichone, believed that the outside part of the track might be faster than the rail, and allowed Whichone to run many paths off the rail throughout the race. Gallant Fox, drawn outside of Whichone, had no choice but to go even wider, and both colts lost a tremendous amount of ground while setting fast fractions of :25 flat, :49 2/5, and 1:13 3/5. In the meantime, several lengths behind them, Jim Dandy hugged the rail in third place, splashing happily through the muddy conditions that he loved.

As the race went on and Gallant Fox and Whichone continued their intense battle for the lead, there was a sudden flash of movement along the rail. As the leaders began to tire from their exhausting efforts, a longshot was rallying fast on the inside. Turning for home, with Gallant Fox and Whichone on the far outside, the improbable ...the impossible ...the unthinkable suddenly unfolded before the eyes of the 30,000 fans in attendance.

Gallant Fox, the Triple Crown winner and seemingly unbeatable champion, had lost the lead. And the new leader was a chestnut blur named Jim Dandy.

For Gallant Fox, the Travers would mark his only loss of the season; after his shocking defeat, he rebounded to win the Saratoga Cup, Lawrence Realization, and Jockey Club Gold Cup to retire with record earnings of $328,165. In contrast, Jim Dandy would never win another stakes race, and he eventually retired at the age of 12 with a record of just seven wins from 141 starts. In his last four seasons of racing, he never even finished in the trifecta.

Yes, for the majority of their careers, there was no comparing Gallant Fox and Jim Dandy. But on one summer day at Saratoga, it was Jim Dandy who reached the winners circle and achieved immortality in his own way.

See more here:

The Legend of Unthinkable 1930 Travers Winner Jim Dandy - America's Best Racing

R

arely has a secret been kept so well. The cast of the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, comprised of 7,500 professional performers and volunteers, practised for months to deliver one of the great cultural moments in our recent history. The Games had truly begun.

For 17 days, from that Super Saturday in the Olympic Stadium to Team GBs dominance of the track, Michael Phelps in the pool to Nicola Adams in the ring, history was being made wherever you looked.

The Games have had a lasting legacy. One only has to walk around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where facilities are still used by professionals and members of the public. The new housing, transport links and facilities have transformed Stratford and the surrounding areas.

It is true that the sporting legacy has not endured in all aspects. As we reveal in todays paper, the Olympic boroughs have seen childhood obesity rates soar to some of the highest in the country in the decade since the Games.

These figures will raise fears that one important legacy of the Games a healthier and more active population has failed to materialise for children in the part of the city that did so much to host the event.

But the 2012 Olympics were more than just one long, and not inexpensive, party. They inspired people across the country, demonstrated once again the power of sport, and served as a reminder that London, host in 1908 and 1948, could still put on a great show for the world.

Start strike talks now

The first rail strikes of the year garnered wall-to-wall coverage and caused widespread disruption for commuters. Todays industrial action by members of the RMT union over pay, cuts and changes to working conditions are unacceptable and cannot be the way forward.

Londoners, and those who travel into the city, pay high prices and are entitled to a decent service. At the same time, it is understandable that workers are demanding pay deals that acknowledge difficult economic times.

What is therefore vital at this point is an activist government that is prepared to use its convening powers to

bring all parties to the negotiating table and sort out a compromise deal. Instead, whether distracted by a leadership election or otherwise, ministers seem resigned to rolling strikes.

Commuters crushed into carriages or cancelling meetings in the city will understandably say that is not good enough. No solution will be pain-free, but governing requires hard choices and the occasional banging together of heads.

That is what is required now, so that a summer of strikes does not give way to a modern-day winter of discontent.

We dare to dream

A backheel. In the Euro 2022 semi-final. Against the top-ranked team in the competition. To make it 3-0 and virtually guarantee England a place in the Wembley final. Take a bow, Alessia Russo.

The Lionesses are now 90 minutes (dont mention the p word) from sporting immortality. Either France or Germany await in the final. Sarina Wiegmans team should fear neither. We cannot wait for Sunday.

Go here to read the rest:

The Standard View: Celebrate the Olympics Games, 10 years on - Evening Standard

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Though we're months away from Halloween, it's never too early to get a head start on spooky season. While you may be most familiar with scary movies, books are reliable scares, too. Ghosts, haunted mansions, and murderous vampires are just a few classic horror tropes and these books offer those in abundance. From The Shining to The Exorcist, here are the 25 best horror books of all time.

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You can't talk about horror without mentioning Stephen King. Over the course of his nearly five-decade-long career, he's brought us killer clowns, murderous fan girls, and, of course, haunted hotels. When Jack Torrance takes a job as the off-season caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, he becomes possessed by the buildings supernatural forces.

Youre probably familiar with this story. When a demonic spirit possesses an 11-year-old girl, Catholic priests are called to her home to perform an exorcism. The book was so popular that the iconic film adaptation was released just two years after its publication.

Whats more horrific than a creepy monk? After Ambrosio finds himself infatuated with a young girl, he abandons his religious values for a life riddled with immorality. Widely regarded as one of the first Gothic novels ever written, The Monk was condemned at the time of its publication in 1796 and the author even had to make revisions to avoid charges of blasphemy.

As one of the first novels to initiate the horror boom of the 1960s, Rosemarys Baby tells the story of a woman who is pregnant with the spawn of Satan. For Rosemary, what ensues is debilitating pain, extreme weight loss, and an intense craving for raw meat. Read at your own risk.

Who doesnt love vampires? Carmilla is about a female vampire who becomes obsessed with a young woman. The book has an undercurrent of romance and lust, though the relationship is never explicitly named. Supernatural figures and dark castles are key elements in this story, and it even inspired Bram Stokers Dracula, which was published years later.

There are very few characters as iconic as Count Dracula. In this 1897 classic horror novel, Dracula leaves his home of Transylvania in order to find fresh blood over in England. When word gets around that theres a vampire in town, a small group hunts him down, with the intention to kill.

One key element of every classic horror novel is the lasting omnipresence of its characters in popular culture, and Frankenstein has exactly that. When the scientist Victor Frankenstein conducts an experiment to create a sentient being, the creature he makes ends up being more grotesque and sinister than he could have imagined.

Just like the 1818 classic, this newer interpretation of Frankenstein is all about the pitfalls of creation. In Baghdad, a scavenger named Hadi collects various body parts and sews them together to create a corpse. But when the corpse becomes sentient and goes missing, several mysterious murders start to take over the city. And just like Victor Frankenstein, Hadi realizes that he has created a monster.

124 was spiteful. Full of a babys venom. So begins Toni Morrisons Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Though we may not readily classify Morrison as a horror writer, she was well acquainted with ghosts. Beloved follows a formerly enslaved woman named Sethe (played by Oprah in the film adaptation) who is haunted by her deceased daughter.

If you watched and loved the Netflix series, then get acquainted with the 1959 gothic horror novel that started it all. When four people, including an occult scholar and a poltergeist specialist, travel to the haunted Hill House, they begin to experience bizarre paranormal activities. The author Shirley Jackson reportedly studied traditional ghost stories to accurately deliver this haunting story.

What's more horrific than cannibalism? When its first reported that a virus has made all animal meat poisonous, the government begins transitioning to human flesh, making cannibalism completely legal. Marcos takes a job working in the meat processing plant in order to support his dying father and must now deal with the insanity and horror of his changing world.

Norman Bates and horror go hand in hand. The novel follows him while he works as a caretaker of an isolated motel and deals with the tumultuous and strange relationship that he has with his mother.

If youre a fan of short stories, then this is for you. In Japanese Ghost Stories, princesses turn into frogs, dead brides go on a haunting spree, and paintings come to life. Theres also your fair share of goblins and faceless monsters. The author was inspired by traditional Japanese folklore and even included some anecdotes about his own eerie experiences of growing up in Ireland.

What happens when a 10-year-old girl turns out to be a 53-year-old genetically modified vampire? Octavia Butlers Fledgling is the answer. In this blend of science fiction and horror, Butler explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and vampires, and what happens when the two become closer than ever.

While The Other was also part of the horror boom of the mid-1900s, it has since flown under the radar because its film adaptation wasnt nearly as successful as The Exorcist and Rosemarys Baby. But that doesnt mean the story isnt any less horrific. Two identical 13-year-old twins living on a rural New England farm are the subject of Tryons debut psychological horror novel. The twist? One of them is a sociopath.

In Coralines house, there are 14 doors and only 13 of them open and close. One day when shes able to unlock the final door, she finds a passage to another home that looks just like hers, with a mother and father who dont want to let her go. Other children are there, too, and she becomes tasked with freeing all of the lost souls, and herself.

Jessica has found the perfect man in David. Hes attentive, caring, and everything shes ever wanted in a husband. But one day, he confesses to her that 400 years ago, he traded his humanity so that he would achieve immortality. To keep Jessica and their daughter with him forever, he invokes a forbidden ritual so that they may never leave his side.

In a long and detailed interview with a reporter, a vampire named Louis lays out his life story, which is filled with killings and blood sucking. For an added scare, check out the film adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Youre probably familiar with this story, and its many spoofs. A mysterious videotape warns four teenagers that theyll die in one week unless they complete an unspecified task. Shortly after, all four of them die from heart failure. When a journalist learns about the tape, he watches the video and attempts to solve the mystery before it's too late.

This coming-of-age novel is the lovechild of Stand by Me and Stranger Things. Jakes uncle Calvin is a lover of all things occult and strange. When a pair of siblings moves into town, Calvin decides to welcome them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But what begins as a fun summer activity quickly turns into close encounters with the supernatural.

For those unfamiliar with the work of Edgar Allan Poe, spooky season is a great time to get acquainted. The 19th-century poet infused a level of mystery and eeriness in all of his work. If you had to read The Raven in school, then you know exactly what the vibes are.

When Noem travels to the Mexican countryside to visit her newly-married cousin, the seemingly haunted house that she's staying in begins to infiltrate her dreams. Dark family secrets, violence, and horror are what you'll find in this modern classic.

While Colson Whitehead is mostly known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad, he's also dabbled in horror. After a plague takes over lower Manhattan, a man named Mark and two other civilians are tasked with clearing Chinatown of any remaining zombies. What could go wrong?

This 1898 horror novella follows a governess who cares for two children at a remote and haunted estate. She begins to see unknown figures around the grounds and they're later revealed to be old inhabitants of the estate. Chaos, and even mysterious deaths, ensue.

In this classic gothic novella, legal practitioner Gabriel Utterson investigates a series of unusual incidents between his old friend Dr. Jekyll and a killer criminal Mr. Hyde. However, he soon realizes that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same.

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25 Best Horror Books of All Time - Best Horror Books to Read - ELLE

In front of an estimated crowd of 35,000 gathered on the lawn and hills in the cradle of baseball, the 46-year-old Ortiz was enshrined along with 83-year-old Jim Kaat, 84-year-old Tony Oliva, and four baseball legends who have already passed: Gil Hodges, Buck ONeil, Minnie Mioso, and Bud Fowler (who actually grew up in Cooperstown). Big Papis 21-year-old daughter, Alex Veda, performed the national anthem before the induction program.

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Wearing a blue suit and red tie, Ortiz became the fourth player born in the Dominican Republic enshrined, joining Juan Marichal, Pedro Martinez, and Vladimir Guerrero Sr., all of whom were seated behind Papi on the stage at the Clark Athletic Center. Dominican flags peppered the fan seating areas.

A gracious Ortiz thanked God, the Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame players, his own family, the USA, his minor league managers, the Minnesota Twins, and a lot of folks who have helped him in his Red Sox years, citing managers Grady Little, Terry Francona, and John Farrell.

I cant thank you enough for building me up and supporting me through the years, said Ortiz. That [Red Sox] organization made me the man I am today.

Red Sox lifers Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski were inducted in their first year of Hall eligibility, but Ortiz stands alone from them as a first-ballot Hall of Famer who won three championships with the Red Sox. Hes one of only four big league players to hit at least 500 homers and win at least three World Series; the others are Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Reggie Jackson.

There was a strong Boston flavor throughout Induction Weekend as Red Sox Nation planted a flag and many of Ortizs former teammates (Johnny Damon, Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, Trot Nixon, Tim Wakefield, Kevin Youkilis, Kevin Millar, and Jason Varitek, to name a few), made the trek to Cooperstown.

I dont think I would have made it without their support and love, said Ortiz, singling out Pedro, Pedroia, and Varitek as teammates he especially enjoyed.

One couldnt help but note that Ortizs enshrinement came on the same date (July 24) as the Varitek-Alex Rodriguez home-plate dustup in 2004.

That was the year everything changed for the Boston Red Sox. After 86 years of frustration and multiple close calls, Ortiz was the man most responsible for Bostons biblical, come-from-behind, Curse-busting ALCS against the Yankees.

It all started with the Sox down, three-games-to-zero, trying to stay alive in the bottom of the 12th inning of Game 4 at Fenway.

Ortizs after-hours blast into the Yankee bullpen at 1:22 a.m. made the Red Sox 6-4 winners in Game 4 and Foxs Joe Buck told Baseball America, Well see you later today.

Exactly 15 hours and 49 minutes later, Pedro threw the first pitch of Game 5, which lasted five hours and 14 minutes over 14 innings and was won when Ortiz (who had already homered earlier in the game) fouled off six pitches before dumping a game-winning single to center off Esteban Loaiza.

Two games . . . both ending on the same day (Oct. 18) . . . consuming 26 innings over ten hours and 51 minutes . . . both won by David Ortiz.

The Sox went to New York and took two more, then swept the Cardinals in the World Series. Bostons Seor Octubre had 19 RBIs in 14 postseason games and was suddenly rivaling Tom Brady as Bostons most popular athlete of the 21st century.

Ortiz went on to win two more championships, rescuing the Sox with his eighth-inning grand slam in Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS against the Tigers (remember bullpen cop Steve Horgan raising his hands as Torii Hunter went ass-over-teakettle?) then hitting an unbelievable .688 in the Fall Classic against the Cardinals.

That was the same year Ortiz personified Boston Strong, telling the world: This is our [expletive] city and nobody gonna dictate our freedom.

Brady, Ted Williams, Larry Bird, and Bobby Orr are four athletes who owned our town for most of the time they played. Bill Russell played his entire career in Boston and was the greatest winner in the history of professional sports. All five Hub heroes started their careers in New England and enjoyed most of their success here.

Big Papi is different. First signed by the Seattle Mariners, he played parts of six big league seasons with the Twins before putting on a Boston uniform. He was released by the Twins at the age of 27 after hitting .272 with 20 homers and 75 RBI in 2002. That will always be something of a head scratcher, but along with Randy Moss and Kevin Garnett, Ortiz goes down as one of Minnesotas greatest gifts to Boston.

After being released, Ortiz bumped into Pedro Martinez while dining at a restaurant in the Dominican Republic. Seizing an opportunity to take care of his countryman and help the Sox, Pedro called Boston traveling secretary Jack McCormick (the man who would later be knocked down by Manny Ramirez when McCormick couldnt fill Mannys ticket request) and McCormick called Bostons rookie 28-year-old general manager, Theo Epstein.

We already had David on our radar, Epstein recalled this weekend. But over the holidays Pedro ran into David and started calling everybody repeatedly. He had Jack Mack track me down. He tracked down Larry [Lucchino]. He just blew everybody up, going on and on, telling us what a great hitter David was, and how great he would be in our clubhouse.

That was unusual," recalled Lucchino. I dont ever remember ever getting a call from a player on behalf of another player. It was pretty powerful stuff."

On Jan. 22, 2003, the Red Sox signed Ortiz to a one-year contract for $1.25 million. It was not front page news in The Boston Globe. Not even Page 1 of sports. Announcing the signing, Globe reporter Gordon Edes wrote a short news story in which he chided the Sox for not being big spenders. (Sound familiar?)

On a day that . . . cash-strapped Florida Marlins sprang for a $10-million, one-year deal for All-Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez, the Red Sox all but completed a winter of shopping at Wal-Mart yesterday, announcing the signing of free agent first baseman, David Ortiz.

There was a lot of competition for a spot in the Sox lineup in 2003. In addition to Ortiz, Epstein acquired Millar, Bill Mueller, Todd Walker, and Jeremy Giambi. Meanwhile, Shea Hillenbrand was still a starter.

Ortiz played behind Giambi at the start of the season, sitting on the bench next to Doug Mirabelli, appearing in only 31 of the first 54 games. He had two homers at the end of May and teammates were calling him Juan Pierre, a flyswatter outfielder who hit 18 homers in 14 big league seasons. Ortiz complained to Epstein, who told him to be patient. Epstein then traded Hillenbrand, which freed up a spot in the lineup. Ortiz wound up hitting .288 in 128 games with 31 homers and 101 RBI.

One year later, he became Big Papi and broke the Curse of the Bambino. Sox CEO Sam Kennedy has called Ortiz, the most important player in the history of the Red Sox."

When you do the things David did, you become a super hero," remembered Epstein. He had authenticity and the way hes unfiltered brought out the best in everybody. It really connected with the city."

When I think about Boston, I definitely think about 2004, 2007, and of course, 2013, when our city was shaken by a Marathon bombing, Ortiz said during his speech. I have never seen a community bounce back and reunite like Boston.

When I think about Boston, I also think about the last game I played [in 2016]. Standing on that field at Fenway Park, it felt like the whole city of New England and each one and every one of you was surrounding me and was showing me all your love.

Big Papi.

Boston baseballs Santa Claus.

Hall of Famer.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.

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David Ortiz already achieved baseball immortality in Boston, and now the Hall of Fame has made it official - The Boston Globe