August 12, 2016

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Frankie Dettori reaches 3,000 winners with victory at Newmarket on Predilection –
Jockey Frankie Dettori secured his 3,000th British winner at Newmarket on Friday. He brought up the landmark with his second winner of the night at his local track – on Predilection, trained by John Gosden. The 45-year-old Italian is the sixth jockey to reach the landmark in Flat racing. He follows Sir Gordon Richards, Doug Smith, Lester Piggott, Pat Eddery and Willie Carson. Three-time champion jockey Dettori, who earlier won on Ghayyar, said: “It’s special. I’m very emotional because my family are here as well. “I’m very pleased for it to have happened at Newmarket because this is where I landed 30 years ago. “It’s not a big meeting, it’s not a Royal Ascot – it’s a mundane Friday night with 20,000 people. I’m relieved and very humble.” [BBC]
Frankie_DettoriFrankie Dettori

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An Aerial Perspective of Nordland from Michael Fletcher on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Flat racing champions by year [Wikipedia]

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  • Brendan Dassey, the subject of Netflix‘s hit drama Making a Murderer is found to have been wrongly convicted of murdering the photographer Teresa Halbach. A federal judge orders that he must be released from prison within three months. (People)
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August 13, 2016

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Gary Lineker pants: Match of the Day presenter keeps Twitter promise –
Gary Lineker kept his promise and introduced the opening Match of the Day of the new season in his underpants. Former England captain Lineker, 55, pledged to “do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies” if former club Leicester won the Premier League. The Foxes went on to win their first top-flight title by 10 points. “It is a one-off and a sporting miracle that has landed me in my underwear,” said Lineker, who scored 95 goals in 194 appearances for Leicester. “When I tweeted that silly bet back in December, I categorically knew there was zero chance of Leicester winning the league. Zero chance. It happened but it was magical, it was great.” Lineker managed to keep a straight face, while MOTD pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright giggled in the background, as he opened the programme. Lineker stayed in his underwear as Shearer and Wright analysed Leicester’s opening-day defeat by Hull. But as the programme moved on to the second match, he told viewers: “Enough of this nonsense – I’m going to get dressed!” [BBC]
Gary Lineker MOTD (BBC)Gary Lineker on MOTD with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright(BBC)

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK from LMJ on Vimeo.

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August 14, 2016

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Wayde van Niekerk wins Olympic 400m gold in a new world record! –
The South African produces an absolutely astonishing run to wrestle the Olympic title away from Kirani James, who comes second. Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record is finally beaten! He looked to have set out far too quickly but, incredibly, got faster around the top bend and then sustained that top speed down the final stretch. The 2008 Olympic champion, LaShawn Merritt, gets the bronze. To give you an idea of how incredible of an athlete Van Niekerk is; he’s the only athlete in history to run 100m under 10 secs, 200m under 20 secs, and 400m under 44 secs. [CNN] See List of the Day
Wayde_van_NiekerkWayde van Niekerk

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Vocabulary 1 from Becky James on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Time Athlete Nationality Location of race Date
43.86A Lee Evans  United States Mexico City, Mexico October 18, 1968[1]
43.29 Butch Reynolds  United States Zürich, Switzerland August 17, 1988[1]
43.18 Michael Johnson  United States Seville, Spain August 26, 1999[1]
43.03 Wayde van Niekerk  South Africa Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 14, 2016[4]

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August 15, 2016

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A marriage proposal at the Olympics medal ceremony –
Chinese diver He Zi had just received a silver medal for the women’s three-metre springboard at the Rio Olympics on Sunday. But she ended up with another prize when her boyfriend Qin Kai, in front of a global TV audience, went down on one knee. Luckily for Qin, who himself won bronze in the men’s three-metre synchronised springboard last week, He Zi said yes. “We’ve been dating for six years, but I didn’t expect him to propose today,” she said. “He said a lot of things, made a lot of promises, but I think the thing that touched me the most is I think this is the guy I can trust for the rest of my life.” [BBC]

Rio Olympics: Seven injured when aerial camera, cables fall in Olympic Park –
Seven people suffered minor injuries when an aerial camera and its cables fell about 65 feet in the Olympic Park on Monday afternoon. Flavio Oliveira was just getting out of a handball match with his nephew when he heard the wires come crashing to the ground. He said the cable whipped against two girls, hitting one of them in the neck. A statement from the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), which provides TV feeds for countries around the world outside NBC, said, “According to local medical authorities, there were seven minor injuries that have received medical attention. A full investigation has been launched.” [USA Today]

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Hot Wheels Road Trip

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August 16, 2016

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Chinese drivers fashion rat-proof car ‘skirts’ –
Residents of a city in southern China have been attaching “skirts” to their cars to protect them from rats. Locals in Nanning, in the Guangxi autonomous region, came up with the unusual solution after rodents were found to be clambering inside the vehicles and gnawing through the wiring. Parked cars have been spotted around the city sporting the makeshift, wraparound shields – dubbed “car maxi skirts” in the Chinese media – some fashioned from fabric and chicken wire, others using bamboo. Many social media users are amused by the curious sight, with one person writing on the popular NetEase web portal: “I like this elevated Guangxi humour.” Some share the locals’ frustrations, but others think they’re overreacting. “Are they preparing against a large-scale rodent invasion?” one user asks. [BBC]

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Procrastination

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August 17, 2016

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US ready to ‘hand over’ the internet’s naming system –
The US has confirmed it is finally ready to cede power of the internet’s naming system, ending the almost 20-year process to hand over a crucial part of the internet’s governance. The Domain Naming System, DNS, is one of the internet’s most important components. It pairs the easy-to-remember web addresses – like bbc.com – with their relevant servers. Without DNS, you’d only be able to access websites by typing in its IP address, a series of numbers such as “194.66.82.10”. More by circumstance than intention, the US has always had ultimate say over how the DNS is controlled – but not for much longer. It will give up its power fully to Icann – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – a non-profit organisation. The terms of the change were agreed upon in 2014, but it wasn’t until now that the US said it was finally satisfied that Icann was ready to make the change. Icann will get the “keys to the kingdom”, as one expert put it, on 1st October 2016. From that date, the US will lose its dominant voice – although Icann will remain in Los Angeles. Icann was created in 1998 to take over the task of assigning web addresses. Until that point, that job was handled by one man – Jon Postel. He was known to many as the “god of the internet”, a nod to his power over the internet, as well as his research work in creating some of the systems that underpin networking. [BBC]
Jon_PostelJon Postel in 2008

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FURTHER – Seth Shostak from Stuart Langfield on Vimeo.

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  • Cisco announces a cut of 5,500 jobs in their shift from switches to software. (Reuters)
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August 19, 2016

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Zika in Florida: Pregnant women warned to avoid Miami Beach –
Pregnant women have been warned to avoid the international tourist destination Miami Beach, amid cases of the Zika virus. Authorities had previously thought the virus was limited to Wynwood, a small area west of Miami Beach. Health officials now say five people in Miami Beach have been infected. Florida health officials have been aggressively spraying pesticides there. Zika, often spread by mosquitoes, can cause life-threatening birth defects. [BBC]

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August 18, 2016

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Olympics 2016: Usain Bolt completes sprint double –
Usain Bolt completed a Rio 2016 sprint double by winning the 200m; he has already won the 100m in Rio. Bolt’s eighth Olympic title came in a time of 19.78 seconds, and the Jamaican has one final chance to win gold in Friday’s 4x100m relay final. Bolt, the overwhelming pre-race favourite, once again dominated a 200m Olympic final. The Jamaican has now won the Olympic sprint double three times, having repeated his exploits from Beijing in 2008 and London four years ago. Bolt said he was not happy with his time and added it was unlikely he would compete in the event at the World Championships in London next year – his career swansong. “I said it would be 100m and that’s it,” he told BBC Sport. “My coach has a way of trying to convince me, but personally I believe this is my last one.” [BBC] See List of the Day

Usain-BoltUsain Bolt

Rio Olympics 2016: USA’s Ryan Crouser breaks 28-year record to win shot put gold –
Ryan Crouser broke a 28-year Olympic record to win gold for the United States in the men’s shot put final. Crouser, 23, threw 22.52m with his fifth throw to break East German Ulf Timmermann’s record of 22.47m set in Seoul in 1988. Joe Kovacs, the 2015 world champion, made it a USA one-two with a best throw of 21.78m, as New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh took bronze with 21.36m. Poland’s Tomasz Majewski, who won gold in 2012, finished sixth with 20.72m. [BBC]

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Man solves Rubik’s Cube faster than Usain Bolt can win 100 meter race

List of the Day –

Usain Bolt International competitions results [Wikipedia]

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2001 World Youth Championships Debrecen, Hungary 5th (semis) 200 metres 21.73
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 1st 200 metres 20.61 (wind: +0.9 m/s)
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.15 NJR
2nd 4×400 metres relay 3:04.06 NJR
2003 World Youth Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 1st 200 metres 20.40
Pan American Junior Championships Bridgetown, Barbados 1st 200 metres 20.13 WYB
2nd 4×100 metres relay 39.40
2004 CARIFTA Games Hamilton, Bermuda 1st 200 metres 19.93 WJR
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 5th (heats) 200 metres 21.05
2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships Nassau, Bahamas 1st 200 metres 20.03
2006 World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 3rd 200 metres 20.10
IAAF World Cup Athens, Greece 2nd 200 metres 19.96
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 2nd 200 metres 19.91
2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.89
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.69 WR OR
1st 200 metres 19.30 WR OR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.10 WR OR
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 1st 100 metres 9.58 WR
1st 200 metres 19.19 WR
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.31 CR
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea DSQ[260] 100 metres
1st 200 metres 19.40 WL
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.04 WR
2012 Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 1st 100 metres 9.63 OR
1st 200 metres 19.32
1st 4×100 metres relay 36.84 WR
2013 World Championships Moscow, Russia 1st 100 metres 9.77
1st 200 metres 19.66
1st 4×100 metres relay 37.36
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 1st 4×100 metres relay 37.58 GR
2015 World Relay Championships Nassau, Bahamas 2nd 4×100 metres relay 37.68
World Championships Beijing, China 1st 100 metres 9.79
1st 200 metres 19.55 WL
1st 4 × 100 metres relay 37.36 WL
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 100 metres 9.81
1st 200 metres 19.78

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  • Three bombings targeting police and military kill at least 120 people and wound 2190 in Turkey’s southeast. (BBC)
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  • The Obama Administration will phase out the use of privately-owned federal prisons. The move will affect private prisons which house 220,660 federal inmates, out of a total of nearly 2,000,000. (BBC)
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  • Twitter announces 2,035,000 terror-linked accounts have been suspended over the past six months amid increasing pressure on tech companies from the White House to censor extremists from groups likeISIL. (CBS News)

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August 20, 2016

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Glass bridge: China opens world’s highest and longest –
The much-heralded “world’s highest and longest” glass-bottomed bridge has opened to visitors in central China. It connects two mountain cliffs in what are known as the Avatar mountains (the film was shot here) in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province. Completed in December, the 430m-long bridge cost $3.4m (£2.6m) to build and stands 300m above ground, state news agency Xinhua reported. It has been paved with 99 panes of three-layered transparent glass. And according to officials, the 6m-wide bridge – designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan – has already set world records for its architecture and construction. [BBC]

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  • Derrick Dearman a 27-year-old Mississippi man kills five people in the U.S. town of Citronelle, Alabama then kidnaps his pregnant ex-girlfriend from among the victims. Nearby, the Greene County, MississippiSheriff’s office takes the surrender and confession of the suspect. (Reuters)
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August 22, 2016

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Windows 10 update stops webcams working –
A Windows 10 update has stopped many popular webcams from working. The update, released earlier this month, stops many cameras being used for Skype or to broadcast and stream footage. The cause seems to be a change in the way Windows 10 handles video so it can be used by more than one program at a time. Microsoft said it was working on a fix but has not given any date for when the patch will be available. Soon after Windows Update 1607 was distributed in early August, many people started reporting webcam problems to Microsoft via its support site. The trouble affected both webcams connected via USB cables or on the same network and meant either that footage could not be streamed, or that images froze after a while. The problems even affected webcams working with Skype and Lync – both companies owned by Microsoft. [BBC]

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Never celebrate too early (Compilation)

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August 23, 2016

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Virgin challenges Jeremy Corbyn train footage –
Virgin Trains has questioned footage showing Jeremy Corbyn sitting on the floor of a “ram-packed” service. In a film shown on The Guardian, the Labour leader said he was experiencing a problem “many passengers face every day” on the London to Newcastle train. But Virgin said CCTV showed Mr Corbyn and his team walking past available seating before starting filming. It says the crew helped him to a carriage where seats were available and he sat for the rest of his journey. On one level, this is a story that appears trivial – about whether a politician could find a seat on a train. But it is fast developing into a political row between the leader of the opposition and one of Britain’s biggest rail firms. [BBC]
Jeremy_CorbynJeremy_Corbyn

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“DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION” — A Bad Lip Reading

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  • Philippine officials believe they may have recovered biggest natural giant clam pearl in the world — weighing 34kg. Officials are awaiting confirmation from gemologists that the find is indeed the world’s largest pearl. If confirmed, it will beat the current record holder, the Pearl of Lao Tzu, which weighs 6.4kg. (BBC)
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