Almost 2,000 Pubs Have Closed in Ireland Since 2005 – Report RTÉ News | Wednesday, 23 Aug 2023 17:44
Almost 2,000 pubs in Ireland have closed since 2005, according to a new report undertaken by Drinks Industry Group of Ireland.
The research shows that 108 bars shut in 2022, while there has been a 22.5% closure rate since 2005.
The group said rural businesses are most at risk of shutting their doors, while the counties that saw the biggest declines were Limerick (32%), Cork (29.9%), and Laois (29.9%).
Dublin saw the lowest rate of decline, at 3.4%.
The group is calling on the Government to give more support to regional, small, and family run operations, and is also calling on excise duty to be decreased.
More than 450 pubs have closed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and Economist and Associate Professor at DCU Anthony Foley said that the knock-on effect is hitting rural communities both socially and economically. …
So they can blame Covid, but not the excise duty. Interesting.
Magnus Carlsen Wins 2023 Chess World Cup After Beating R Praggnanandhaa in Tie-Breaks ESPN | 8.24.2023 | Aaditya Narayan
. . .
In a relatively even position, the game was heading towards a draw, when Carlsen finally made his move with his knights advancing to threatening positions, before the Indian resigned with just about 10 seconds left on the clock.
That meant Praggnanandhaa had to win on demand with black pieces. He had done it before in this tournament, in the quarterfinal against Arjun Erigaisi, but he was facing a completely different beast here.
He began the second game with a little prayer, but soon Carlsen ensured that was in vain. The five-time world champions nous and know-how showed, as it became very clear in the opening that the world no 1 had snuffed out Praggnanandhaa’s chances of winning with black pieces. After a few major pieces were traded, the players agreed to a draw, and the smile on Carlsen’s face was the only show of emotion from either player. The Norwegian has now won the one title that was missing from his illustrious cabinet, to go along with his five World Championship titles.
I learned a new word: “nous.” I’ll never use it, though.
It is a tale told by Aaditya, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Just 25 Cities Contribute More Than Half of Global Greenhouse Emissions, Report Finds US News and World Report | July 2021 | Alexa Lardieri
The new report found that all but three of those cities were located in China.
Just about two dozen cities, from a sample of more than 160 urban centers, contribute more than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.
The report, published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, found that just 25 cities, analyzed from a sample of 167 metropolitan areas in 53 countries, comprise 52% of greenhouse gas emissions.
95% of “greenhouse gas” is comprised of water vapor. 3.5% is CO2.
Zero cities contribute water vapor to the atmosphere.
Chemical molecules are so widely dispersed in the atmosphere that they cannot contain, store, nor transform the heat radiation leaving the planet. And they certainly can’t re-emit heat to the planet through the cold layers of the atmosphere. Not through radiation, convection, or conduction — the only means of heat transference.
Penguin at Edinburgh Zoo Promoted to Major General in Norway Army Euronews Weekly| 22/08/2023 | Joshua Askew
A penguin has been promoted to the third highest rank in the Norwegian Armed Forces.
Sir Nils Olav III, a resident of Penguin’s Rock in Edinburgh Zoo, was given the honorary title of Major General in the King’s Guard of Norway on Monday, as their official mascot.
Some 160 uniformed soldiers visited the Scottish zoo to bestow the unique honour upon the king penguin, involving much military pomp and circumstance.
The decorated bird, already a Brigadier, now has the grandiose title of Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands.
Since you don’t own an F-35, I assume you don’t pose any threat to our gov — wait a minute: Trump is charged with questioning things and asking people to watch videos. Maybe you do pose a threat to our government?
Whatever you do, don’t post any information about it here. Talk about pro-America things like movies, or guns, or . . . belay that.
So, What Happened to Xi Jinping at the BRICS Summit? Hotair | 08/23/2023 | John Sexton
The BRICS summit is taking place in South Africa this week. BRICS started out as BRIC for Brazil, Russia, India and China but has since added South Africa.
BRICSA?
The group of nations doesn’t have much in common except a generalized sense of grievance over the US being the most powerful country in the world.
Why not call the group “WAAAAH”?
In Johannesburg, a big topic of conversation will be the outsize influence of the U.S. dollar in the global economy.
[Certainly not in the U.S. economy. It doesn’t even buy a quarter of a gallon of gas.]
Talk of “de-dollarization” is rife among exponents of the BRICS, even though not formally on the summit’s agenda. Some have floated a rival BRICS-backed currency to challenge the greenback’s supremacy. But the invention of a new BRICS currency is wildly ambitious — and probably unfeasible — and the summit is expected to focus instead on options to expand the use of local currencies in trade between bloc members. Dollar-strapped countries like Argentina have already started dealing in the Chinese yuan in certain transactions.
“Why does Brazil need the dollar to trade with China or Argentina? We can trade in our currency,” Lula told reporters recently, before casting the BRICS bank as a more just potential actor on the world stage than U.S.-led institutions like the International Monetary Fund.
zzzzzz.
Wait: if Argentina is in the mix, shouldn’t it be BRICSA-A?
Or CRIBSAAbies??
[Oppo sips martini contentedly, contemplating his wisdom while eating the olive with a toothpick]
So the general idea of this conference is for these countries to get together as a kind of vague rival to the G7 or the G20. What you don’t want at a meeting like this is signs of confusion or possible problems behind the scenes.
And now, the reason I posted this: the Pythonesque arabesques from the diplomatic corps[e]
But this week China is experiencing both. First, there was this incident in which a Chinese aide seen running after Xi Jinping was stopped by security who, it seems, didn’t know who he was. As you can see in this clip, Xi seems confused and stops and looks back.
Good enough, but:
At BRICS summit, South African security officers stop Chinese President Xi Jinping’s officials who were trying to make their way in. Literally had to close the doors, prompting the Chinese President to look back several times.pic.twitter.com/EHhsd6IKEH
It turns out the man who got body slammed into a door was Xi’s translator. You can see the same small guy with glasses in this earlier video shot upon Xi’s arrival.
An internship is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest. An internship gives a student the opportunity for career exploration and development, and to learn new skills. It offers the employer the opportunity to bring new ideas and energy into the workplace, develop talent and potentially build a pipeline for future full-time employees. A quality internship:
Consists of a part-time or full-time work schedule that includes no more than 25% clerical or administrative duties.
Provides a clear job/project description for the work experience.
Orients the student to the organization, its culture and proposed work assignment(s).
Helps the student develop and achieve learning goals.
Offers regular feedback to the student intern.
What is the difference between an internship, cooperative education (co-op), and research experience?
Internships are supervised, structured learning experiences in a professional setting that allow you to gain valuable work experience in a student’s chosen field of study. Internships require a minimum of 120 hours (typically, at least 10 hours per week during the fall and spring and either part-time or full-time during the summer).
Student Interns Expect:
To gain real work experience and provide meaningful assistance to the company. They don’t want to be gophers!
To have a mentor who provides guidance, feedback, receptiveness andmodels professionalism.
To gain experience and skills in a particular field.
To develop professional contacts.
To gain exposure to upper management.
To receive an orientation to the company for which they are interning. This introduces the student to the company’s mission and goals and provides them with information about company rules, regulations and procedures. It also introduces the intern to fellow employees who they can go to in the future with questions.
