Sudanese and Dutch women take part in an event to swim across the Blue Nile in the capital Khartoum on November 21, 2015, as part of an event organised by Dutch ambassador Susan Blankhart (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)
Khartoum
(AFP) - The Dutch ambassador to Sudan swam across the Nile in Khartoum on
Saturday in a stunt that began as a bet to win more "likes" for her
embassy's Facebook page.
Clad in an
bright orange swimsuit bearing the embassy logo, Ambassador Susan Blankhart
swam several hundred metres (yards) across the Blue Nile with six other Dutch
women and seven Sudanese women, cheered on by dozens of supporters on the
riverbank.
"It
was lovely, it was beautiful. I would recommend that everyone swims across the
Nile," Blankhart said laughing, back on dry land after the crossing.
She had
originally said that she would swim across the river if her embassy's Facebook
page received more than 10,000 likes.
After she
hit the target, the 63-year-old organised the swim with two charities to raise
awareness about safe swimming in the Nile.
The group
was watched over by a team of Sudanese lifeguards in kayaks and boats as they
swam through the muddy water.
The swim
was also aimed at promoting women's empowerment in Sudan, Blankhart said.
Taxi app firm Uber is stopping its
controversial Uberpop service in the Netherlands, the company said on
Wednesday.
Uberpop allows unlicenced drivers to use their own cars as taxis,
but has been branded as illegal by the Dutch courts.
The company is withdrawing
the service because Uberpop is a ‘hindrance to the constructive dialogue about
modernising the existing taxi rules’, Uber Nederland director Niek van Leeuwen
said in a blog post.
The services Uberblack, Uberlux and UberX, which involve
licenced drivers, are not affected.
Uber said earlier this year it would
support Uberpop drivers in getting taxi licences, but Van Leeuwen said in his
post that ‘we expect many of them will not be able to do this because of the
high cost of complying with all the legal obligations’.
Earlier this year,
transport ministry inspectors raised the fine payable by Uber for breaking taxi
sector rules to a maximum of €1m. Uberpop drivers themselves can be fined up to
€4,200 and are given a criminal record.
Gunmen
attacked an Eagles of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan in Paris,
gunning down
fans and blowing themselves up as police stormed the building
(AFP Photo/Marion
Ruszniewski)
London
(AFP) - British fans of the US rock band Eagles of Death Metal, which was
playing at a Paris concert hall targeted in Friday's attacks, have started a
social media campaign to push one of its songs to number 1.
"Get
Eagles Of Death Metal to the No.1 this week as a statement of support and
peace," read the description of the campaign on Twitter on Monday.
A Facebook
page calling on supporters to download the song "Save a Prayer", a
cover of Duran Duran's hit single of the same name, had more than 6,500
"likes".
Campaign
organisers said that the downloads would be "a nice gesture" and
stressed they were not representing the band, who escaped unharmed, and their
initiative was not being done for profit.
The song is
at number 96 in Britain's charts and climbing, with a new ranking set to be
released later on Monday ahead of the official ranking on Friday.
The
campaign "has started gathering momentum," the Official Charts
Company said in a statement.
The song is
already at number three on the Amazon UK singles chart and number 1 on the
iTunes rock chart.
It was at
number 35 on the main iTunes chart.
Gunmen
attacked an Eagles of Death Metal gig at the Bataclan in Paris on Friday,
gunning down fans and blowing themselves up as police stormed the building.
The attack
claimed 89 lives -- by far the worst loss of life of the night.
The band,
which was formed in 1998 in Palm Desert, California, was celebrating the
October release of their album "Zipper Down" with a European tour.
The band's
previous highest UK single's chart position was number 73 with 2006 record
"I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)".
The video
featured Josh Homme -- frontman of Queens of the Stone Age -- along with former
Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and Hollywood comic actor Jack Black, all of whom
have made live cameos with the band.
Messages
about the campaign were being retweeted on the official account of the British
band Duran Duran.
It was
unclear who would receive the royalties from the increased sales of the single.
A musical
ensemble from Saung Angklung Udjo will perform in Paris on
Hannah
Herbst wants to bring renewable energy to the developing world.
The
15-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, won this year's Discovery Education 3M
Young Scientist Challenge for designing a probe to generate power and fresh
water for developing countries by harvesting it from ocean currents.
She was
awarded $25,000 and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" at a
competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Herbst told
Business Insider she was inspired by her 9-year-old pen pal in Ethiopia who has
limited access to electricity. "I cant even imagine a day without
electricity," said Herbst.
How the
device works
Herbst's
energy probe is made of recycled materials and costs just $12.
It consists
of a 3D-printed propeller, connected by a pulley inside a plastic PVC pipe to a
hydroelectric generator, which converts the mechanical movement of ocean
currents to usable electricity. She tested her device in the Boca Raton
Intracoastal Waterway, where the current coming in from the Altantic Ocean
produces a large amount of untapped energy.
Using her
device, she was able to power a set of LED lights.
She
calculated that if her design were scaled up, she could generate enough
electricity to charge three car batteries at once in less than an hour. That's
enough energy to power saltwater desalinization pumps to provide a source of
fresh water for developing countries. It could also power blood centrifuges for
medical use, or coastal beacons for ship navigation.
The
competitors
Herbst was
one of nine finalists.
Over the
past three months, each of them was paired with a 3M scientist as part of a
summer mentoring program to take their inventions from design to prototype.
Herbst
worked with 3M corporate scientist Jeffrey Emslander, whose research has helped
the company reduce its emissions and produce its products using less energy.
Here they are accepting the award:
The
competition's second place prize went to Raghav Ganesh, an eighth grader from
San Jose, California, for an invention that monitors physiological and
environmental factors that can trigger meltdowns in people with Autism Spectrum
Disorder.
Third place
went to Amulya Garimella, a seventh grader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who
created a system that monitors EEG brainwaves and alerts the user when he or
she is distracted.
Iris Gupta,
a seventh grader from North Potomac, Maryland, won fourth place for her project to stop allergies at their source by inhalation or injection of nanoparticles
that block particles that trigger allergies.
As for
Herbst, she plans to donate some of her winnings to her Ethiopian pen pal, and
a new building at her school. The rest will go into her college fund, she said.
She also
plans to keep working with her 3M mentor to improve her ocean energy device,
and eventually deploy it in developing countries.
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4- Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind),5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
“… 4 - Energy (again)
The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources.We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!
Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
“...Japan
Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.
Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK." Nuclear Power Revealed
So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.
It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.
We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.
This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time. So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise. …”
More laptop makers
are making it difficult or impossible for users to replace the battery
themselves, the Dutch consumers association Consumentenbond said on Friday.
Five years ago, it was consumers were able to change batteries in 77% of
laptops but this has now shrunk to 42%, the association says in a new report.
In total, researchers checked out 600 different laptops to find out how easy it
is to swap batteries. Apple came bottom of the bunch, scoring just three out of
10. Top was Lenovo with a score of 9.6, followed by Toshiba on 8.6.
The
association says a new battery costs between €40 and €80 but replacement by the
manufacturer or a repair company costs up to €200.
Adele,
pictured on February 10, 2015 at the Grammy Awards, releases the
first track
downloaded more than one million times in a week in the
United States (AFP
Photo/Frederic J. Brown)
New York
(AFP) - Adele on Monday shattered a record with her long-awaited song
"Hello," which became the first track downloaded more than one
million times in a week in the United States.
"Hello,"
a piano ballad that is the debut single from the British pop star's first album
in nearly five years, opened at number one for the week through Thursday on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, which monitors sales, streaming and radio
play.
For digital
sales only, "Hello" was downloaded 1.1 million times, far outpacing
the previous record holder, rapper Flo Rida's New Wave-sampling "Right
Round" which sold 636,000 copies in a week in early 2009, tracking service
Nielsen Music said.
"Hello"
also broke by a wide margin the feat for streaming. The song was played 20.4
million times via on-demand subscription services, more than twice the record
set two months ago by Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber for "What Do You
Mean?"
Music
industry watchers are expecting Adele's upcoming album "25," which
comes out on November 20, to be the year's biggest release and say it may even
rival Taylor Swift's blockbuster "1989" album from last year.
Adele's
last album "21," which featured the heartache song "Someone Like
You," was the top-seller in the United States for two years in a row and
the biggest album by a comfortable margin in Britain in the 21st century.
Adele is
planning to promote the album in the United States with a recorded-for-television
concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall and an appearance on "Saturday
Night Live."
"Hello"
has amassed nearly 200 million views on YouTube, becoming the fastest video to
hit the 100 million mark with the exception of "Gentlemen" by South
Korean pop singer Psy, his follow-up to the most-viewed-ever YouTube clip
"Gangnam Style."
