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Forty-seven countries and around 10 and a half million square kilometres. That’s Europe, about a third bigger than Australia and roughly the same size as the United States. Its 287 languages might not seem a big deal compared to Papua New Guinea, where you’d need more than 800, but in Australia and the US you can pretty much get by with one. In Europe, each of those languages also tends to come with a different culture, different food and even its unique beer. It seems like a good idea then, to spend a bit of time on the road in Europe before the Bird of Time runs out of hours. Motorcycling is regarded fairly highly and motorcyclists are treated with respect. There are even several hotel networks specialising in looking after…

Eva Mendes doesn’t have a role in The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling’s new action-comedy, which topped the box office in its opening weekend. But according to the Barbie Oscar nominee, 43, his partner of more than a decade deserves credit for everything she did behind the scenes. “I couldn’t be here without her,” he told Extra on April 30 at the L.A. premiere, adding, “It’s endless how she helps me.” Mendes, 50, feels the same about the father of their girls, Esmeralda, 9, and Amada, 8. She recently told People that the actor has her back “in all the ways I need to be supported.” That mutual respect has been a cornerstone of their relationship since they became involved after meeting on the 2012 movie The Place Beyond the Pines. “Eva and…

Former U.S. President Donald Trump set off alarm bells in Europe when he told a campaign rally in February that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell” it wants to any countries he judged to be delinquent on their defense obligations. European countries were already fretting about the possibility of a second Trump term, and these latest remarks sent these concerns into high orbit. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times a few days later that Europe was facing a world that has gotten “rougher” and that “we have to spend more, we have to spend better, [and] we have to spend European.” But the question remains: Will Europe do enough to be able to defend itself? Complaints that European states are overly dependent on…

You’ve finally arrived in Cuba and your pockets are stuffed with pesos. One thing and one thing only is on your mind: cigars. And you’re ready to spend some serious coin. You can hardly contain your excitement as you approach the nearest La Casa del Habano shop. Which cigars are you going to buy? How many boxes? Montecristo No. 2? Cohiba Siglo VI? The possibilities make you pick up your pace, but when you walk through the door and B-line straight for the walk-in humidor, you find8230; a lot of empty shelves. And a lot of petit coronas. Some of the Cohibas you manage to spot are approaching $100 per cigar. Confusion and panic start to bubble up from your gut. What’s happening here? CIGAR AFICIONADO visited every Casa del Habano…

WE all make mistakes, but discovering you made one on your tax return can be particularly unnerving. If you simply made a math error, the IRS will correct it. But if you’ve excluded information that could affect your tax bill, you should file an amended return. About 3 million taxpayers file amended returns each year, and the process has become easier since 2020, when the IRS began accepting electronic submissions of Form 1040X, the document used to amend a federal tax return. Previously, taxpayers had to file the form on paper. You generally have up to three years from the date you filed your original return (or two years from the date you paid any tax due) to file an amended return. However, if you failed to report taxable income,…

FOR YEARS, MY FAMILY WORRIED ABOUT how I survived on meat and buns alone — okay, and Safeway-brand cheese slices. Not the ones wrapped in fancy plastic sleeves, but those stacked in slabs (my mom wouldn’t buy Kraft). By the time I was twelve and allowed to turn on the stove, I’d begun making my own grilled sandwiches. Mom supplied the gross brown bread with seeds, when I’d rather have had pure white loaves. But never mind. I’d swab the spongy matter with room-temperature margarine (she was inexplicably against butter too), slap a cheese slice in between, and fry both sides in her Teflon pan. I didn’t like much in the way of food, but I’d gorge on these. Maybe that’s how I stayed alive? Trace non-stick chemicals and the…

With the quick adoption of AI, it’s no surprise that it’s swiftly making its way into the workplace. ChatGPT is an AI tool making major transformations for employers and employees alike. This AI-powered chatbot, which uses natural language processing, can be the missing piece for companies wanting efficient workflow. In addition to answering basic questions, ChatGPT can generate images and videos, draft emails, give specific instructions for various tasks, hold a conversation, explain code in programming languages, and more. So, what can we expect the future to look like with this new innovative tool that seems too good to be true? Cisco delivers software-defined networking and security solutions to various businesses with a mission to realize AI’s significance while following standards for transparency, fairness, and accountability. Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s executive…

The U.S. Justice Department’s double-barreled antitrust attack on Google’s dominant search and Apple’s trendsetting iPhone is reviving memories of the epic battle that hobbled Microsoft before it roared back to yet again become the world’s most valuable company. The parallels to the Justice Department’s landmark antitrust case in 1998 could provide a window into the potential breakthroughs that could be unleashed if regulators succeed in their attempts to crack down on Google and Apple. Federal lawyers have even gone as far as to assert Google and Apple may never have created so many popular products or become as powerful as they are now if Microsoft hadn’t been reined in a quarter century ago. In closing arguments of a Washington, D.C., trial that began last September, regulators applied the finishing touches to a case…

20% of the 59 fruits and vegetables in our ratings posed a high risk from pesticides. WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTHY EATING, fruits and vegetables reign supreme. But along with all their vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients can come something else: an unhealthy dose of dangerous pesticides. Though using chemicals to control bugs, fungi, and weeds helps farmers grow the food we need, it’s been clear since at least the 1960s that some chemicals also carry unacceptable health risks. And although certain notorious pesticides, such as DDT, have been banned in the U.S., government regulators have been slow to act on others. Even when a dangerous chemical is removed from the market, chemical companies and growers sometimes just start using other options that may be as dangerous. Consumer Reports, which has tracked the…

English interiors have become increasingly layered, highly decorated and personal in recent years. We have embraced layering colour, pattern and texture in ways that are braver and speak about us as owners, and we have developed a reverence for the bespoke and handcrafted. It is perhaps no surprise that as a result, there has been a resurgence in the decorative arts. “Decorative painting gives soul and personality to a home,” says decorative artist Tess Newall. “It helps to create a layered room, adding depth to the space and character. It’s about being in a space that’s inspiring, brings joy, is uplifting and tells a story.” It was these ideas that originally led the Elizabethans to employ skilled craftsmen to emblazon the walls and ceilings of their homes with colourful, hand-painted designs in…

CRISPIN HOLBOROW of Savills Private Office (07967 555511) has hit the ground running at the start of the spring selling season with the simultaneous launch onto the market of three historic country estates, each of which has survived the upheavals of the 20th century to emerge resplendent in the 21st, thanks to sound long-term investment and upgrading by current owners. He quotes a guide price of £18 million for Grade II-listed Combe Court, a classic Victorian country house set in 94½ acres of formal gardens, lakes, parkland and woodland in the heart of the Surrey Hills, two miles from the quintessentially English village of Chiddingfold. The house stands on high ground overlooking its own grounds, with glorious southerly views over a wonderfully peaceful part of rural Surrey. Combe Court was built in…

NEW RESEARCH IN INDONESIA HAS FOUND that a simple-yet-clever device can help restored coral reefs grow as fast as healthy reefs after just four years. The study, carried out by the University of Exeter and partners and published in Current Biology, took place off the south coast of Sulawesi, where vast areas of coral reef were decimated in the 1980s and 1990s by ‘blast fishing’ – a destructive practice that uses explosives to stun schools of fish. Researchers looked at the work of the Mars Coral Reef Restoration Programme, which has been restoring reefs using networks of Reef Stars – hexagonal, sand-coated steel frames transplanted with coral fragments from healthy reefs. Reef Stars work in two ways. They provide a structure on which coral can grow; and they stabilise coral…

Smoking, smacking, smart-phones for kids: never mind the “nanny state”, today’s national debate seems crowded with demands for decisive action from politicians to save us – or our children – from ourselves. Rishi Sunak’s ban on selling cigarettes to under-15s for ever once they come of age is supported by 59% of the public, according to one recent poll. He has been unabashed about defending the tough policy, despite some of his more libertarian colleagues claiming it is an infringement on personal freedom, and one, Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher, fretting that “nanny states do not raise warriors”. Meanwhile, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, whose MPs backed the tobacco bill in the House of Commons last week, previously embraced the term “nanny state” when confronting objections to Labour’s policy of supervised tooth-brushing for…

1 Royal Castle Symbol of rebirth In the heart of the Old Town stands the Royal Castle. The first wooden tower on this site was built in the 14th century by the dukes of Masovia, then developed into a royal residence after Warsaw was incorporated into the kingdom of Poland. In the late 16th century, Sigismund III Vasa moved his court from Kraków to Warsaw, and commissioned a revamp of the castle. During the heyday of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, it became one of the most splendid royal residences in Europe. A large part of its art collection was lost during Swedish and Russian invasions in the 17th century and, like much of Warsaw, the castle was blown up by the Nazis towards the end of the Second World War. But it was…

MARTYN BRUNT Martyn is tri's foremost average athlete and is living proof that hours of training and endless new kit are no substitute for ability. One of the best things about being a triathlete is that we are constantly being underestimated. This is particularly true if you are, let's say, an age-grouper of advancing years with a physique that suggests they should be sat on a kitchen counter with mugs hanging off them, but I think it's something pretty much everyone who does our sport experiences at one time or another. You'll all know those occasions when a cyclist, or runner, or swimmer hears you're a triathlete, and often their immediate reaction is to assume they're better at that sport than you. And you'll hear old clichés like ‘triathletes can't…

IN NOVEMBER 2023, SpaceX launched its second Starship rocket test flight. This was the heaviest, tallest and most powerful rocket ever built and – not unexpectedly – it didn’t work. Both stages exploded – the first at an altitude of 90km, the second at 150km. This was seen by some as proof that Earth is flat, because the rocket supposedly crashed into the “firmament” above our flat Earth, rather than exploded. Typical flat-Earth explanations on TikTok were, “There’s no breaking through the energy dome. You cannot go to space physically. We have never been to the Moon.” Firmament believers are a subset of the wider flat-Earth community and tend to be fundamentalist Christians. They believe God placed a physical barrier – the so-called firmament – exactly 200km above the ground. How is…

KRUGER LUCKY PACKET My first visit to the Kruger National Park was in 2002 at the age of 27. My then boyfriend, Morné, invited me to go on holiday with him, his older brother Henri and his fiancee, Frieda. Morne have been visiting the Kruger with his family since 1974. I was so excited - I always wanted to go, but never had the opportunity before. We entered the Kruger at the Phalaborwa Gate. We then followed a gravel road (H9) to the Nhlanganini Dam. And what do you know... there on the embankment a male lion was lying down. My first spotting was a LION! I ne excitement in the car was contagious and I had this adrenaline rush. I was hooked there and then. “There was this anticipation - it felt…

Finally, it’s time to go and high-five that withered arm hanging out at Mohgwyn Palace and follow the eternally youthful Miquella into the Land Of Shadow. More than two years after Elden Ring’s erd-shattering debut, DLC will spin this fable further afield from 21 June. There are a few reasons why this chapter has been such a long time coming. For one, it introduces a totally separate location that’s almost as expansive as Limgrave in the base game. The DLC tugs upon story threads attached to several major players too, with the Land Of Shadow fabled as the place Marika first set foot. Why Miquella has followed in her footsteps, and why this location has existed apart from the Lands Between until now are just two threads in the unspooling mystery. In…

BOW RESPECTFULLY at the temple gate. Cleanse hands and mouth at the fountain. Sound the bell. Leave a name slip with your wish in the main hall, light a candle and three sticks of incense, toss coins in the offering box, and chant sutras. Get your pilgrimage book stamped. Exit the gate, and bow again. Follow the red markers to the next temple. Repeat 87 times. Or not. On the Shikoku Henro, one of the longest pilgrim routes in Japan, there are many ancient customs but few hard-and-fast rules. You don’t even have to walk it: Many Japanese now take cars or bus tours; others ride trains or bikes. You can tackle the trail counterclockwise instead of clockwise. Or break the circuit into segments. You can wear the traditional white vest or…

1 USE KEYWORDS Milda Mitkute, Vinted co-founder, says this significantly boosts your item’s discoverability. People search using different terms, so the more relevant terms you use in the description, the better. Instead of ‘black T-shirt’, try ‘plain black, short-sleeve T-shirt with V-neck.’ See the difference? If an item hasn’t sold after a few weeks, rewrite the title, checking all the relevant item filters are selected. 2 PHOTO-PERFECTION The first photo is the most important as it determines whether someone taps on your listing to find out more, says Emma Sullivan, creative director. Choose a photo that clearly shows the entire item from the front. You want to aim for natural light and a neutral background. With lighter-coloured items, use a dark background. 3 ADD A BIT EXTRA People like a good haggle on Vinted, but…

What happened Donald Trump’s hush money trial took a lurid turn this week with the testimony of porn actress Stormy Daniels, while his repeated violations of a gag order threatened to land the former president in jail. Daniels testified that she and Trump met at a Lake Tahoe golf championship in 2006 and Trump invited her to dinner. She said she didn’t expect to meet with him in his hotel room—nor for him to be partly undressed, to compare her to his daughter Ivanka, or to mention that he no longer shared a bedroom with his wife. At first, she said, the two discussed the business aspects of the porn industry and his ability to get her a TV job—but then Trump demanded sex, and she eventually acquiesced. She said she…

IT that long ago that co-working spaces were riding what seemed like a massive wave that would never break. New brands were launching every few months (East Room in Canada, Second Home in Europe and NeueHouse in the U.S. were just some of the more interesting iterations from a design perspective), while established co-working companies like WeWork were opening spaces at warp speed. Then WeWork started to teeter and eventually collapsed in the face of insurmountable debt and crippling losses, COVID-19 reared its disruptive head, and much of the planet was ordered to work from home. Suddenly, the future of co-working seemed anything but certain. A few years on and co-working has survived, largely due to corporate employees who find themselves without an office to go back to post-lockdown. Many employers…

THE Grand Cliff Top Walk is a scenic 19km/two-day walk linking Wentworth Falls, Leura and Katoomba. Walkers will be able to stop and enjoy a night in a mountain village, choosing from a variety of accommodation options, and complete the track the following day. Great Walks was lucky to do the walk just before its official opening plus we took five with Tim Lanyon, Principal Project Officer, Blue Mountains Branch, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (see pg 89) Day 1: Wentworth Falls to Leura – 11km As the 8.12 am train from Central lumbers into Wentworth Falls Station, school students shoulder heavy backpacks for their day ahead. Swinging mine into place, relieved to feel the floatiness that comes from a light day pack, there’s a jaunt in my step as I…

We can’t help but wonder. Did the name come first? Or did Ground Shatter come up with the concept for a fantasy-themed follow-up to 2021 deckbuilder Fights In Tight Spaces and picked the most natural title from there? Either way: bravo. Hats off, too, to the Bristol studio for not merely reskinning its previous hit. From a mechanical standpoint, it may not be wildly different – as before, you’ll draw cards to manoeuvre around grid-based environments and to deploy a variety of attacks against the enemies that drop in – but this time you’ll recruit party members, creating opportunities for team-based attacks. The illustrative art style is a clear improvement on Fights’ stylish but spartan look: those scratchy lines add extra grit to these brawls, whether you’re slamming heads into…

LAST month's article jogged a few memories and sparked several phone calls and emails to NZHRM. One from Ewen Cameron, who said, “Hi Paul, I love the Magazine and have been subscribed for years. How good is that article on The Way We Were? I remember well the good old days of Kopuku and Kerrs Road following my brother-in-law Trevor Watson. That's a great photo on page 17, top left at Kerrs Rd, Wiri of my wife Karen (married 54 years) 5th from left, then her mother Thelma, sister-in-law Yvonne, then at the front of the Dragster is my brother-in-law Graeme. The Dragster in the foreground, I think, is Trevor Watson's Grasshopper. (May have to be corrected on that) Cheers, Ewen Cameron. There's More ANOTHER recollection came from John Stanley, who recalled racing…

Four of the six competing America’s Cup teams have unveiled their AC75s, the boats in which they will contest for the Cup this October. First to show their hand was Alinghi Red Bull Racing who unveiled their AC75 in a glitzy night ceremony on 9 April, the sails and rig represented by a cascade of aerial acrobats. Some of the rule changes for this second generation of AC75s were evident immediately in the Alinghi ‘Boat One’ (each team is only allowed to launch one AC75 this year, though as a new entry into the Cup Alinghi had previously been practising in Emirates Team New Zealand’s boat from the 36th Cup), including radical cut-away of the hull sidewalls in the aft sections, reflecting the updated rule’s focus on weight reduction, as…

With a warm smile and a jubilant wave, holding aloft a posy of flowers, the King returned to public duties with a touching display of support for fellow cancer sufferers. His Majesty looked thrilled to be back out on engagements – and with his beloved wife the Queen at his side – merely three months after sharing his cancer diagnosis. Coming days before the first anniversary of the coronation, the visit to the Macmillan Cancer Centre at London’s University College Hospital was a world away from the pomp and splendour of that historic day. But it was nevertheless filled with warmth and summed up how much life has changed for the couple in the 12 months since they were crowned. It also revealed a new depth of empathy from the King towards the patients…

ROBB RECOMMENDS… IN 1903, LA A URORA debuted as the first premium commercial cigar brand in the Dominican Republic when it released a hand-rolled puro called the Preferidos No. 1. To celebrate the 120th anniversary of that moment, company president Guillermo León, a fifth-generation member of the founding family, recently introduced a limitededition re-creation of that very smoke. Not to be confused with the 120th Anniversary Toro, Gran Toro, Churchill, and Robusto (all regular parts of the La Aurora portfolio), the Limited Edition Preferidos No. 1 replicates the figurado shape that launched the company. Like the original Preferidos, it's an all-Dominican 6 x 58 double perfecto. However, the contemporary version boats a vastly improved new blend consisting of a Dominican-grown Cuban-seed Habano ‘92 wrapper, an Olor De Valle Cibao binder,…

If you’re an AT&T subscriber, you might want to keep a close eye on your credit reports. The company has disclosed that approximately 7.6 million current account holders and approximately 65.4 million former account holders “were contained in a data set released on the dark web approximately two weeks ago.” While it’s unclear how the breach occurred or if it involves AT&T directly or one of its vendors, the company says it includes personal information such as names and Social Security numbers. A preliminary analysis appears to indicate that the data is from 2019 and earlier, though AT&T is still conducting “a robust investigation supported by internal and external cybersecurity experts.” The company reports the compromised data likely does not contain personal financial information or call history. AT&T says it does not have…

SPECIALIZED S-WORKS EPIC 8 £12,000 The easiest-to-ride bike we’ve ever tested Specialized have upped the travel of their top-flight race bike, to ensure it’s capable of hitting the gnarliest cross-country lines. It retains some of the more progressive geometry in the XC field, too. New for this year is automatic, wireless suspension adjustment courtesy of RockShox’s new Flight Attendant-equipped SID fork and SIDLuxe shock, co-launched with the bike last month. THE FRAME The frame of this top-end S-Works model is built from Spesh’s high-modulus ‘FACT 12m’ carbon fibre. A single-pivot swingarm delivers 120mm of rear-wheel travel – 20mm more than on the previous Epic – with flexstays used instead of a rear pivot to drive the shock-actuating rocker link. The chassis has a new steering block and updated down tube storage, but grams have…

A woman is standing next to a group of Holocaust survivors and their descendants in Trafalgar Square in London, live-streaming her challenge to the pro-Palestine marchers on her phone. “Why will none of you condemn Hamas?” she repeats several times. Most of the marchers ignore her, preferring instead to show their appreciation for the group of 11 survivors who oppose Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza. But this is a march of thousands of people and one protester, probably in his 50s, takes the bait, yelling about “you bloody evangelical Christians” and knocks her phone out of her hands as she turns to film him. “Where are the police?” she calls, and in the commotion ends up on the ground, cutting her leg on some broken glass. Some of the marchers…

Breaking through the ground in ragged, abstract shapes, as if it’s emerging from the earth, this house began life as a question. Is there an alternative to building with timber that is just as nature-friendly but also accessible and ubiquitous? For architect John Wardle, who has headed up his namesake studio in Melbourne for more than 30 years, the answer was baked earth. ‘We’re always curious about developing materials, and terracotta has universal qualities,’ says Wardle. ‘Our research shows it has good environmental credentials. It’s also practical and we’ve engaged with specialists to develop it. Terracotta has these beautiful qualities of warmth, texture and tonality that resonated with us. So we landed on baked earth – or the anglicised, and now Australianised, ‘burnt earth’, a playful term that became the…

Think of your self-worth as the ceiling to your aspirations — an invisible boundary that determines the height of your potential. You will never ascend beyond the limits of your self-worth. It’s the guiding force that shapes every facet of your life, from your income and time investment at work to your energy levels, dietary choices, social circles, boundaries with others, and even your romantic connections. Consider this: we are born with our self-worth account overflowing, a reservoir of untapped potential waiting to be realised. However, as the journey of life unfolds, we encounter painful experiences, trauma, shame, and various challenges that slowly deplete this account, leaving us feeling undeserving and constrained. The question then arises: has anyone ever guided you on how to replenish your self-worth account? Have they…

Anyone who learned music will know the mnemonic, ‘All cows eat grass’. But this doesn’t make all beef ‘grassfed’. Knowing the differences between grass- and grain-fed beef can help you make better choices as a consumer.So what is the difference? Grass-fed beef is from cattle that’s eaten grass its whole life. It may have a diet supplemented with grain in times of bad weather, but mostly it’s free to roam and munch on grass all day. You’ll find that grass-fed beef has a creamy, yellow hue to the fat. Grain-fed beef comes from cattle that’s been ‘finished’ on grain for at least 60 days. Some are finished for 100 days or more (premium beef like wagyu can be finished for up to 400 days). “This helps to finish the animal…

Walking hand in hand on a morning stroll with my husband of 11 years, I felt blissfully happy. I was approaching my 40th birthday and had a lot to be thankful for. I had a job I loved running a recruitment agency and although my husband and I didn’t have any children, we were content with it being just the two of us, enjoying long holidays and an active social life. ‘WAS THIS A MIDLIFE CRISIS NOW I’D HIT 40?’ But in October 2012, mere weeks after my birthday, my perfect life as I knew it, began to change. Scrolling through Facebook one afternoon, a post from an acquaintance, Lara*, grabbed my attention. A friend of a friend, she was asking for support with her dating troubles and, as I was doing a…

5:07am. Even when it is cold and dark, there is something magical about riding the streets of London while most of the city sleeps. Every light is green. The only other traffic is the occasional delivery van and a handful of cabs cruising like sharks in search of scraps. I skirt round the back of King’s Cross and down a deserted side street to find the underground parking at St Pancras station. In a perfect world I would be taking my bike with me on the Eurostar so I could simply ride off at the other end in Belgium. Sadly, despite the growth in demand for sustainable travel, Eurostar only offers limited options for carrying bikes on journeys to the Continent, so I’m obliged to leave my bike in the car…

MAD MAX ADVENTURE TRAVEL Mad Max is the quintessential Aussie movie saga — putting the pedal to the metal in four adrenalineinduced fantasy road adventures. The first three films showcased our wonderfully raw, rugged land to the wider world. And while the fourth adventure, Mad Max: Fury Road, diverted to Namibia, southern Africa, the fast-approaching fifth film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, returns the mayhem to Aussie soil. Yet the seemingly brutal wastelands that serve as the progressively desolate environments for Max Rockatansky’s exploits are, in fact, remarkably habitable, picturesque destinations for travellers. From endless rural backroads among the Melbourne hinterlands to the eternal expanses of the iconic Mundi Mundi Plains in Silverton, NSW, and the underground otherworldliness of Coober Pedy, SA, and beyond — we’ve selected the most memorable…

Anything goes in Las Vegas, except excessive water use. Two decades ago, the city began to grapple with a reality that many other cities in the Southwest were trying to put off: Eventually, it could run out of water. In contrast with cities like Phoenix or Los Angeles, which get water from a number of sources, Las Vegas still gets about 90 percent of its water from the Colorado River, and it has little other water to tap into. By the time the river hit a record low in 2002, Las Vegas had begun taking aggressive water-saving measures to meet population growth and adapt to a drying river. The city known for excess and summer pool parties began counting every drop, even the small dribbles flowing onto asphalt. “We couldn’t have…

CURCUMIN, THE ACTIVE COMPOUND IN THE SPICE, may be just as good for treating indigestion as pharmaceutical interventions, according to a recent study in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. With anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, curcumin coats your stomach lining to combat excess acid. In this study, 206 patients aged 18 to 70 with recurrent upset stomachs of unknown cause were assigned to one of three groups, taking either curcumin, omeprazole (an indigestion drug) or a combination of the two. Researchers found curcumin to be safe and well tolerated by all and that patients in all three groups experienced similar improvements in their symptoms. BUY IT NOW Holland & Barrett High Strength Turmeric 600mg + Black Pepper (£16.99 for 90 capsules, hollandandbarrett.com)…

» MANUFACTURER: Sony » YEAR: 2009 » COST: £224.99 (launch), £75+ (today, boxed), £50+ (today, unboxed) While Sony was no stranger to tinkering with its hardware, the PSP got a lot of attention over the years – the PSP Go was the fourth major iteration of the hardware, and the most radical redesign. The new sliding form factor that hid the system’s controls beneath the screen was certainly striking, but far bolder was the decision to launch a digital-only system, with no UMD drive to support the hundreds of PSP games and films available. Owners of previous PSP models were unable to use their Memory Stick Pro Duo cards with the PSP Go, as well as any mini-USB peripherals such as the Go! Cam and the GPS receiver. The experiment…

Many factors come into play when determining whether a decorating scheme is successful, but Lauren Robbins’s longtime client Joye Richards conveyed her absolute satisfaction with perhaps the ultimate compliment: “I never want to live anywhere else!” This is the third house that Lauren has worked on for Joye, so she really understands what her client likes—elegance mixed with comfort. As Joye explains, “I don’t want people who visit to feel that they can’t touch anything.” While the architecture of the 1919 house, with its Mission-style leanings, double portecochères, and tall ceilings, could lead to the assumption of very formal interiors, Lauren knew exactly how to dispell that notion. She paired streamlined antiques with more contemporary pieces, adding in some edgier art finds along the way. When it came to selecting the palette…

When Amy Winehouse crossed the pond to Austin, Texas, for the South-by-Southwest music festival in March 2007 – a shining, shambolic soon-to-be superstar and not-yet-tragic hero – the concept of time dissipated in her wake. Buzzed at the ultra-hip festival as the future of music, the beehived British soul singer seemed to have emerged from an Atomic Age time machine, heavily influenced by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, the Ronettes and all things Motown. But her plentiful tattoos, Ghostface Killah remix and foreshadowing lyrics of booze, blow and Rehab revealed the post-millennial tension between Amy and her throwback muses. When she finally, tipsily, went onstage well past 1 a.m., backed by her eight-piece Brooklyn band, the Dap-Kings, she was messy and mesmerizing. Those of us lucky enough to be inside…

Migration is the seasonal movement of animals from one region to another. In the case of birds, migration typically occurs between breeding grounds and wintering grounds. This incredible journey often spans continents, with some birds travelling thousands of miles each year. A perilous journey across continents Migration is a fascinating phenomenon observed in various animal species, including birds. It’s a dangerous journey that spans thousands of kilometres and involves remarkable adaptations and behaviours. Educating communities about the importance of migratory birds, their conservation needs and responsible bird-watching practices fosters appreciation and support for these remarkable creatures. Why do animals migrate? There are several reasons why animals, including birds, migrate: Food availability: Birds migrate to areas with abundant food sources. Breeding grounds: Some birds migrate to specific areas for breeding. These locations often provide ideal nesting sites, mating…

Eating a healthy diet that's low in processed sugars is the best way to prevent type 2 diabetes—but researchers have discovered that daily walking can also lower your risk. Your chances of developing diabetes reduce as you increase the speed you walk, but even people who take a leisurely stroll get some protective effect, say researchers from Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. They took another look at 10 studies that had analyzed the impact of walking on diabetes risk for around half a million people in Britain, America and Japan and discovered that the pace was more important than the amount of time spent walking. The critical speed seems to be 2 mph (3.2 km/h); even a relaxed stroll will lower your risk. In the 2–3 mph (3.2-4.8 km/h) range, you'll…

During the pandemic, holiday destinations around the world were “champing at the bit” for the tourists to return, said Natalie Wilson in The Independent. “But there are tourists – and then there are too many tourists.” Since the industry roared back to life, some places have experienced visitor numbers well above 2019 levels, causing rising concern about the impact on everything from housing to local ecosystems. There is nothing new about this: Maya Bay in Thailand, the location for the film The Beach, had to be closed for four years from 2018, to allow its ecology to recover from the influx. But official crackdowns are escalating: Amsterdam recently restricted the number of river cruises entering the city; in Portofino, Italy, Instagrammers face being fined if they linger too long taking…

IN LATE WINTER, I met my mother and my aunt and traveled to the mountain resort town of Karuizawa, in Nagano Prefecture, a little over an hour from Tokyo by shinkansen. When we stepped off the train, the air was bracingly cold. We were surrounded by forest, gentle drifts of snow, and a rare and delicious quiet. Hovering over the landscape was stately Mount Asama, its summit tipped with white. I had heard about Karuizawa for what felt like the entirety of my childhood. It was the place where my mother had gone on vacation when she was a child. Some years later, after my older brother was born, my grandfather purchased a weekend home there. Karuizawa has long been known as a retreat for wealthy families fleeing Tokyo’s summer heat.…

Most people have heard of Stephenson’s Rocket, the steam locomotive designed and built in 1829, but Robert Stephenson didn’t actually invent the first steam engine. That honour went to Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman whose Penydarren tram road engine hauled 70 men and 10 tons of iron some 10 miles, at 5mph, in 1804. However, Trevithick’s design was ignored, leaving it to Stephenson to grab the glory. By the 1920s and 30s, the golden age of steam was in full flow. At the height of steam train popularity, there were over 30,000 miles of track in the UK, transporting goods, commuters and holidaymakers, but the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and then electrification meant that steam engines were consigned to the heritage sector. In Britain, there are now over 100 heritage…

Former physics teacher David Borton has always taken an interest in two things: science and the water. Growing up, he spent a lot of his time on the lakes of New York’s Adirondacks and began earning his freshwater sea legs around the same time he learned to walk. As life moved forward, he became obsessed with his second love, fundamental science. So, when the oil crisis hit in 1974, Borton’s research-driven mind sought solutions. He set his eyes on alternative energy, namely the thermonuclear reactor 93 million miles away from Planet Earth we call the Sun. Over time, the now 79-year old’s Troy, New York home became solar powered, and in 2005, he had a thought: The sun provides enough energy to sustain life on earth and power for his solar…

On a cocktail napkin, she wrote A real kiss. He wrote Sex and clarity. The pair had been seeing each other every couple of months for about a year. After dinner or the opera, they’d typically end their dates with a hug. One night the woman suggested that they each write down what they would like if they beat the other in a game of pool. After he won a game, her date revealed a napkin saying he wanted to be friends with benefits. He was divorced and wasn’t ready for a relationship. “That’s fine,” said his date, Helen Fisher, Ph.D., a biological anthropologist and senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University. But “once you start to have sex with somebody, it can trigger the brain circuitry for…

When New York police cleared a “Gaza solidarity encampment” from the grounds of Columbia University last week, arresting some 100 peaceful protesters, Columbia president Minouche Shafik likely thought she’d saved her job, said Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. A day earlier, Shafik had appeared before a House committee investigating campus antisemitism—the same GOP-led panel whose December grilling of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania resulted in both women being “driven from their jobs.” Unlike the defensive Claudine Gay and Liz Magill, Shafik readily agreed with her Republican inquisitors that some pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia had crossed the line into antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, and said she was cracking down. Soon after, she invited the NYPD onto campus. It wasn’t enough for Republican lawmakers, who…

Wildlife photography is a thrilling adventure where you get to explore and capture magnificent creatures in their natural habitats. It’s not just about photography alone; it demands a deep understanding of animal behaviour, and an appreciation for the art of blending into their world. To capture perfect shots, you need to predict animal movements and patiently wait for just the right moment. At the same time, you need the right gear and to be passionate, patient, and respectful towards nature. Here’s five quickfire tips to help you reach your wildlife goals. 1 THINK LOCAL While it’s easy to assume you must travel far to photograph wildlife, the reality is almost anywhere in Australia will have wildlife you can capture in one form or another, including in cities. Nature groups or camera clubs can…

Removing old synthetic siding is just the first step in the restoration of a neglected exterior; it requires little skill and is usually the fastest part of the restoration. A small team can strip a large two- or three-storey house in less than a week. Repairs and prep work take far longer. That and painting are the costly parts of the job. one When Jim and Merry Boone realized the two-tone asphalt shingled rental they owned was the ugliest house on the street, they set about the long process of stripping and restoring the exterior. two The Boones hired a team of five people to strip asbestos-free asphalt shingles from the 1887 Stick Style two-family next door to their own Queen Anne. The work took four days and filled a 40-yard waste container. three While most…

Have you ever wondered why some photos stand out from the rest? Of course, there are plenty of aspects that may catch our eye but it’s most likely to have something to do with the composition. With the rise of social media platforms, we’ve all seen countless shots that apply common composition strategies; but here’s the thing, however impressive or technically correct they are, these shots tend to get lost in a sea of similar-looking images. This is hardly surprising, as when we are first introduced to photography, the use of classic framing methods is high on the list of things we are taught. Straying from this path of tried-and-tested rules is not considered an option although, in reality, not every interesting scene can be captured at its fullest potential…

The INFYNITO range is for people who love the sea without limits or boundaries, as expressed by the “Further than you can Sea” concept. Making her debut at Boot Düsseldorf, INFYNITO 80 joins the brand’s hugely successful INFYNITO 90 and builds on the range’s typical characteristics: environmental friendliness, unprecedented flexibility and innovative layouts, as magnificently embodied in the iconic All-Season Terrace. Other strengths include the yacht’s versatility, with a sundeck that can be open or semi-closed, and the sheer size, above average for the segment, of the exterior surface area covered and protected by the hard top or superstructure. Built at the Marina di Ravenna shipyard, Ferretti Yachts’ INFYNITO 80 is the result of collaboration between the Strategic Product Committee chaired by Piero Ferrari and the Ferretti Group Engineering Department,…