text:
Wed 7th Aug 2019 - Propel Wednesday News Briefing
Story of the Day:
Greene King paid Rooney Anand £850,000 to secure new settlement terms over departure due to 'inadequate' contract: Brewer and retailer Greene King paid former chief executive Rooney Anand £850,000 in order to secure new settlement terms over his planned departure – because his contract was "inadequate". The company's annual report revealed Anand remained on the same contractual terms from his original 2004 letter of appointment. Specifically, Anand was required to give Greene King only six months' notice, which could have left the company "exposed" in the process of finding an appropriate successor. The contract also did not have terms of what would "now be regarded as standard post-termination restrictive covenants that posed a real risk to the company's business at a time of leadership transition". These included joining mainstream competitors and non-solicitation of employees. The report stated: "It was vital for Greene King to secure such protections. Rooney is one of the most experienced and successful senior executives within the pub industry, and as he is not retiring he could have chosen to remain active as an executive within our industry. With this background, the nomination and remuneration committees, working together, reached a position we regarded as in the best interests of the company and shareholders to ensure a smooth transition – Rooney's full focus on working for Greene King in 2018-19 and providing important commercial protections for our company for a further year from May 2019. During the 12 months after his termination date, Rooney is prohibited from taking on an executive position with 18 named competitors (or any non-executive role with the most significant nine of these companies). He has also agreed to indemnify the company for any loss should these covenants be breached. In return for these new undertakings, a payment of £850,000 – broadly equivalent to one year's fixed pay (salary, pension contributions and benefits) – was made to Rooney. In reaching this agreement, the committees were very conscious of the current sentiment concerning termination payments, but felt the potential risk to the company arising from the weakness of the 2004 letter of appointment could not be left unaddressed, and payment of £850,000, being broadly equal to the one year's base salary plus benefits and pension contributions that would have been payable had the company given Rooney notice of termination, was proportionate compensation for Rooney delaying his potential departure to ensure a smooth transition and agreeing not to join named key competitors or soliciting current members of the company's team for a period of 12 months following his leaving our employment." The report showed Anand's successor Nick Mackenzie has been appointed on a salary of £600,000, which was both "appropriate" and "market aligned" and there was "no intention to catch-up to the level of the previous chief executive in the short term". The remuneration committee said it has also "listened carefully to the strong case made by shareholders in early 2019 regarding the 'fairness' of executive directors' pension contribution rates being aligned to those available to the majority of the workforce" and has committed to undertake a company-wide review of pensions this year.
Shortlist unveiled for Wireless Social Women's Entrepreneur of the Year: The shortlist for this year's Wireless Social Women's Entrepreneur of the Year has been unveiled. The shortlist, which has been selected from industry nominations, is Dorothy Purdew (Champneys), Joycelyn Neve (Seafood Pub Company), Pranee Laurillard (Giggling Squid) and Saiphin Moore (Rosa's Thai Cafe). The winner will be announced at the end of the Women's Entrepreneur Conference, which takes place on Thursday, 12 September at One Moorgate Place, London, and is open for bookings – for men as well as women. Speakers will be Bartlett Mitchell founder Wendy Bartlett; West Brewery founder Petra Wetzel; Chai by Mira founder Mira Manek; Filmore & Union founder Adele Ashley; Tonkotsu founder Emma Reynolds; Giggling Squid founder Pranee Laurillard; sushi expert and KellyDeli head of food product innovation Silla Bjerrum; Stanley Pubs founder Amanda Pritchett; Seafood Pub Company founder Joycelyn Neve; and Prezzo executive chairman Karen Jones. Also taking part are Kanishka Holdings managing director Tina English, Livelyhood chief executive and owner Sarah Wall, Oatopia owner Tamar Coleman, The Chilli Pickle founder Dawn Sperring, Bombay Burrito owner Maria Savage, Farmer Copleys owner Heather Copley, Goldfinger Factory founder Marie Cudennec, Hola Guacamole owner Margarita Garcia, and Yum Bun founder Lisa Meyer. Tickets are £295 plus VAT for Propel Premium subscribers and £345 plus VAT for others. They can be booked by emailing anne.steele@propelinfo.com or calling her on 01444 817691.
UK pubs and restaurants help boost non-essential spending in July but overall growth remains muted: UK pubs and restaurants helped boost non-essential spending in July as Brits continued to spend on entertainment and experiences, according to new data from Barclaycard. Restaurants saw a 10.1% uplift while pubs saw growth of 5.6% against last year's comparative of the heatwave and Fifa World Cup. Meanwhile, the release of Disney blockbusters such as The Lion King and Toy Story 4 led to cinemas seeing spending grow14.8%. Non-essential spending was up 2.4% year-on-year as overall consumer spending grew 1.7% – representing a decline in real terms when accounting for inflation – following similarly muted figures in May and June. Essential spending contracted by 0.9% as supermarkets and petrol saw a decline of 0.7% and 2.4% respectively. Travel grew 2.6% as airline expenditure bounced back from three consecutive months of decline to increase 3.7%. Retail, on the other hand, continued to struggle, with department store spend contracting 3.9%. July's overall figure followed similarly muted results from May and June, with consumer spending showing growth of 1.1% and 0.9% respectively. Barclaycard said this was reflected by a fall in consumer confidence, with just 29% of UK adults feeling positive about the state of the UK economy. In addition, a quarter (23%) said they are uncertain about their job security – the highest this figure has been in more than two years. This has led to 54% of Brits now being confident in their ability to spend on non-essential items – a 6% drop from last month. Barclaycard director Esme Harwood said: "Spending has remained relatively subdued over the past few months. However, box office hits such as The Lion King and Toy Story 4 have helped boost spending as consumers continue to prioritise dining out and enjoying trips to the cinema and theatre this summer."
OpenTable and Quandoo sign strategic partnership: Global restaurant booking platforms OpenTable and Quandoo have announced a strategic partnership that will see the two brands integrate table availability, which they claim will give diners the "most comprehensive choice of restaurants worldwide". The partnership will mean Quandoo restaurant partners will be available for real-time reservations on the OpenTable platform, with OpenTable restaurants reservable on Quandoo over the coming months. The companies said the partnership would open up thousands of new options for diners, enabling them to discover and make a reservation without the need to switch between platforms. Andrea Johnston, chief operating officer for OpenTable, said: "This partnership will make each site more comprehensive for diners and restaurant partners will benefit from increased discoverability by being available on both platforms. Our mission is to help people experience the world through dining, and by forming this strategic partnership we are able to do this faster and at scale." Pierpaolo Zollo, vice-president business development for Quandoo, part of Recruit Holdings, added: "At Quandoo, our aim is to transform the dining out experience for consumers worldwide, and with OpenTable as a partner, we are excited to be able to strengthen our position and expand our reach to an even wider variety of restaurants. Together with OpenTable, we are looking forward to driving both business and industry growth." As part of the initial integration, 10,000 restaurants will be made available across OpenTable and Quandoo, with restaurants added throughout the UK, Germany, Australia, Italy and Singapore. The partnership will bring OpenTable's offering to more than 56,000 restaurants globally, and Quandoo's restaurant partners will be increased to more than 23,000.
UK loyalty scheme 'impossible' for Domino's Pizza because customers don't order frequently enough, incremental opportunity around collection in London: Domino's Pizza Group chief executive David Wild has said having a loyalty scheme in the UK like the company does in the US is "impossible" because customers do not order frequently enough. In a presentation to analysts following the company's interim results, Wild said the frequency in the UK was about a third of that in the US. He added: "The average customer in the US orders 18 times a year. In the UK, it is five or six times. With the US scheme it effectively works as a free pizza after someone has ordered six times, so in the US that would take about three months. Over here, that would take about a year, which makes it impossible. That's why we have taken the approach of using single customer view marketing rather than a loyalty scheme. We have made further customer segmentation to allow us to deliver more appropriate marketing messages and hopefully drive sales that way." Wild said there was an incremental opportunity in London around collection and the company was trialling various offers around the capital in a bid to entice customers. This includes a lunch deal of a pizza and a drink for £4.99. He added: "London is of course a more challenging environment rather than other parts of the country so we need to think a bit differently and that's what we are trying to do. Overall, £20 remains a key price-point for us and our autumn promotion will be based on that. Nothing has changed on that score." The Domino's Pizza app in the UK has now been downloaded 24 million times and the conversion rate to sales has risen to 48.2%, compared with 46.5% last year. Mobile and the company's app now accounts for two-thirds of sales. Meanwhile, the company has now sold more than two million of its cheeseburger pizzas that it introduced at the end of last year while sales of its Tabasco stuffed crust pizza launched in April were "going well". Domino's Pizza said it was a "big year" for the international business, which continues to make losses, but the company would not be drawn on whether it might withdraw from any markets. Summing up, Wild said: "We have seen a strong performance from our UK and Ireland business. Active discussions with our franchisees continue and while we are confident we will reach a win-win solution, this will take time and is likely to be into 2020. We are focused on improving operational capabilities and performance in our international business."
Shake Shack's UK operation narrows losses as turnover rises to £27m: Shake Shack's UK operation has reported turnover increased 27% to £27,106,021 for the year ending 31 December 2018, compared with £21,367,650 the year before. Operating losses reduced to £6,249,235, compared with £8,315,457 the previous year while pre-tax losses fell to £6,633,288, compared with £7,748,120 the year before, according to accounts filed at Companies House. Shake Shack's UK operation has received additional funding from its parent company since the end of the period. The UK business indicated further funding would be required from its parent company to remain a going concern in the current financial year, but said it had received assurances this would be forthcoming. The company paid royalties of £1,657,894, compared with £1,274,929 the previous year. Gross profit percentage increased from 63% to 66%. In his report accompanying the accounts, director Bassam Assaad said he was satisfied with the results as they were "within expectations". He added: "The business continues to expand with one new site opening in the year. The company continues looking for the right opportunities to expand in new areas and has several sites being evaluated for 2019 openings with the continued support of its immediate parent undertaking. The director continues to seek opportunities for investment and development that fit with the company's strategic objectives." The number of employees increased during the period from 481 to 515. There are currently ten Shake Shack sites operating in the UK – eight of them in London. Diverse Dining is overseen by parent company Assaad Food and Beverage, based in Lebanon.
Mike Rainer confirmed as EAT managing director: EAT, the food-to-go retailer acquired by Pret A Manger in June, has confirmed chief executive Andrew Walker has left the business to pursue other interests, with Mike Rainer promoted to replace him. Rainer, who has been EAT's chief financial officer since October 2016, will assume additional responsibilities as its new managing director, while the business continues to trade as a separate entity. Walker said: "I am unbelievably proud of my past three years leading EAT through a significant period of change. Helped by the fantastic team from the ground up, we were able to turn around the business – evidenced by our last financial year where we saw a significant improvement in our trading performance sparking Pret's interest. Mike was a key part of this success so I leave EAT in very capable hands. I now look forward to taking a much-needed break before considering my options." Rainer added: "I would like to thank Andrew for his leadership and vision over the past few years and I'm pleased to continue his work by steering EAT through the next stage as we integrate with Pret. The vast majority of our colleagues will be staying on at the combined group and our customers will continue to benefit from our creativity and drive for excellence." Pret, the JAB Holdings-owned chain, reached an agreement to buy the circa 90-strong EAT at the end of May. Pret said in response to growing consumer demand for more vegetarian and vegan options on the high street, it plans to convert as many of EAT's stores as possible to Veggie Pret – 75% of EAT's estate is in London, with many close to an existing Pret.
Pesto reports record year: Pesto, the Italian casual dining business led by Neil and Sara Gatt, has reported record results for its full year to June 2019. "It has been a really strong year for us," said chief executive Neil Gatt. "Turnover reached £13m for the first time and site Ebitda has broken the £2m barrier for the first time as well." Pesto, established in 2006 operates ten converted pub sites and one site within the Trafford Centre, all offering a "piattini" menu based around small plates of Italian cuisine. Gatt added: "It's great to finish the year with so many positives, every site has a five-star food hygiene rating, all the former pubs have a 4.5 TripAdvisor score and we will be paying out our biggest year-end general manager bonus pot to date. We have a fantastic team of hard-working committed people at Pesto and it's great to see one general manager earning almost £14,000 in bonus this year." Pesto has four sites in the Midlands and seven in the north west. The company switched strategies in 2012 and began to move away from the challenged and crowded high street and shopping centre markets. "I'm not saying that we wouldn't go back into those types of locations in the future, but for now our priority is to continue to search for great pub sites to reinvent," added Gatt.
The Real Greek set to open in The Strand: The Real Greek, the Fulham Shore-owned business, is set to further increase its presence in central London, after securing a site in The Strand, Propel has learned. The sister brand of Franco Manca has started converting 397 The Strand for what will become its 17th site. The property previously traded as The Diner. The Real Greek has taken a new lease, granted directly from the landlord. The site is on the southern edge of Covent Garden. The Real Greek already has a site in the north east corner of Covent Garden where Long Acre meets Bow Street. Christos Karatzenis, who oversees The Real Greek, told Propel: "We are looking forward to opening our second restaurant in Covent Garden situated in The Strand. The Real Greek business is thriving and we are serving more customers than before. They love the quality of our food." Propel understands The Real Greek is in advanced negotiations on a further site in the capital, near the Tower of London.
Giggling Squid to replace Cote in Weybridge: Giggling Squid, the 32-strong Thai restaurant brand founded by Andy and Pranee Laurillard that recently ended discussions regarding attracting external investment, has further added to its openings pipeline, with a site in Weybridge, Surrey. Propel understands the BGF-backed business has secured the Cote site in Church Street for an opening later this year. Earlier this week, the company said although it had received considerable interest from potential investors, this was not at a level its board believed "sufficiently reflects the company's track record to date and future prospects". BGF, which invested £6.4m in the then 13-strong Giggling Squid in 2015, remains supportive of the company's self-financed roll out strategy and is said to be looking forward to further growth. The pipeline for new sites remains strong as Giggling Squid looks to open between six and ten restaurants each year, as well as embarking on a refurbishment programme of its more mature restaurants. Sites in Cambridge and Leicester have recently been added to the group's pipeline. It has also signed for the former CAU site in Leamington Spa, which is due to open in the autumn subject to planning permission. AG&G is understood to have acted on the Weybridge deal.
Planet Organic launches first new site in five years as it plans ten openings: Planet Organic has opened a 2,300 square foot site in Queens Studios in Salusbury Road, Queen's Park, London – part of a plan to have ten new stores opened in the next five years. The Queen's Park store is the first new opening since Tottenham Court Road in 2014. Al Overton, Planet Organic's buying director, said: "Planet Organic is firmly community-based in each of its locations. And Queen's Park, with its strong community ties, is an ideal fit for us. We've been in business since 1995, which makes us the original and oldest organic supermarket chain in the country. The trend towards healthier eating is only increasing and we are expanding to meet that demand. Our original mission, eat well, live better, is more pertinent now than ever, and we remain committed to it. Increased awareness in ethical retail is growing too, so more and more shoppers are coming to us. For example, we've been plastic bag free for 12 years and have always sold most fruit and vegetables with zero produce packaging. Those things, always important to Planet Organic, are now more widely important to shoppers."
Eggslut makes UK debut, lines up second site: US egg-in-bun concept Eggslut will open its first site in the UK, in London's Notting Hill, on Wednesday (7 August). The West Coast concept will launch at the former Pix Pintxos unit in Portobello Road. Propel understands the concept, which is operated in the UK under franchise by ITICO F+B, is in talks on a second site in Shoreditch. In April, Propel reported ITICO F+B planned to open a handful of sites in the UK in the next 12 months. Eggslut offers cage-free eggs in brioche buns and the UK site will feature a fast food version of the concept. Eggslut was founded in Los Angeles in 2011 and currently has five sites in the US – four in California and one in Nevada – plus one in Beirut. ITICO F+B is also rolling out US street food concept The Halal Guys in the UK. Sammy Weinbaum, at CDG Leisure, is acting for ITICO F+B.
D&D London to open new restaurant in Bristol: Restaurant operator D&D London is to open a 13,000 square foot restaurant and events venue within the Quakers Friars piazza at Hammerson's flagship destination in Bristol, Cabot Circus. This will be D&D's second venture with Hammerson, following the openings of Issho and East 59th at Victoria Gate, Leeds in 2017. The venue, which is set to open in early 2020, will contain new concepts developed for the building to include a restaurant, bars, extensive private dining and a large outdoor terrace. The restaurant and bars will be contained within the listed 18th century Friary Building. Propel revealed D&D London was in talks about the site last month. Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London, said: "Following our Leeds openings and most recently the launch of our rooftop restaurant 20 Stories in Manchester, our Cabot Circus venture in Bristol reflects our continuing commitment to expansion in the UK outside of London. We are very pleased to be working again with Hammerson." Iain Mitchell, UK commercial director at Hammerson, added: "D&D continues to innovate in the restaurant scene and we are thrilled to have secured its first venture in the south west. We have some exciting plans that will transform this part of Cabot Circus."
New dessert parlour concept secures debut site: Gooey, a new dessert parlour concept, has secured its debut site, in Uxbridge, west London. Gooey, which is the brainchild of Taimur Ahmed, has taken a new 15-year lease at the 2,300 square foot site in Belmont Road, which immediately adjoins Prezzo. The site is ground floor only with an outside courtyard. Gooey's menu will include a range of gelato, crepes, sundaes, waffles, shakes, smoothies and other hot and cold drinks. The company said it has several other openings in the pipeline and was looking to acquire more sites. Louie Gazdar, agency and leasing, Davis Coffer Lyons, which acted for the private landlord on the Uxbridge deal, said: "Dessert bars remain a very strong trend in the market. Barriers to entry are low and low fit-out costs and high mark-up on the products available has made them very appealing, and operators can often fit into more affordable units." Business Property Solutions acted for the tenant.
Bear to open fifth site, at Intu Derby: Midlands-based cafe bar concept Bear is to open its fifth site, at the Intu Derby shopping centre. Bear brands itself as an "alternative to the traditional coffee house or bar" and harbours ambitions to open up to 30 sites in major cities and market towns in the next five years. It already operates a site in Derby – in Iron Gate – but is doubling up in the city next month. Bear also operates outlets in Stone, Uttoxeter and within Jack Wills' flagship store off Carnaby Street, Soho. The Intu Derby venue will be on the first floor between Carluccio's and Azzurri Group-owned Zizzi. Bear co-founder Craig Bunting told Derbyshire Live: "Our recent partnership with global fashion retailer Jack Wills and our offering at Intu Derby sees us punching well above our weight. This excites us because we are at the forefront of a growing change in the retail landscape."
Honesty Group plans two new coffee shops as part of expansion: Honesty Group, the company led by cookery writer Romilla Arber, is planning two new coffee shops in the Berkshire area in the next year and expansion of its wholesale artisan bakery products into new markets. The group currently spans eight coffee shops, a cookery school, the Honesty Bakery and kitchen, and The Crown and Garter restaurant with hotel rooms in Berkshire. In the past 12 months, the group's workforce has increased by 28 and year-to-date projected growth for 2019 for Honesty Bakery is 28.6%. Located in Turnpike, Newbury, the group's flagship bakery produces a range of artisan bread, pastries, tarts, cakes and biscuits for wholesale. The expansion plans aim to increase its supply and distribution to operators in the south west in particular. Arber said: "Our business all started with bread and wanting to take a different approach to food and how it gets to the consumer. To be focusing on expanding Honesty Bakery ahead of our fifth anniversary in September is really exciting and something that is very close to my heart."
The Gentlemen Baristas confirms ninth site: Coffee shop company The Gentlemen Baristas has confirmed it is launching its ninth site, in New Oxford Street in late-August. The new coffee house will use beans from The Gentlemen Baristas' nearby Shadwell roastery, alongside an all-day menu, with the option to take away. The Gentlemen Baristas co-founder Ed Parkes said: "We're incredibly excited to be bringing well-mannered coffee to New Oxford Street this summer. The area is new to us and we're looking forward to becoming a big part of the ever expanding community in WC1."
Reel Cinemas reports turnover boost: Independent cinema operator Reel has reported turnover increased 2% to £11,204,693 for the year ending 27 December 2018, compared with £10,975,157 the year before. Operating profit was down to £1,085,815, compared with £2,017,560 the previous year while pre-tax profit fell to £758,005, compared with £1,561,539 the year before. During the period, the company closed its Grantham site, leaving it with 11 cinemas and a total of more than 50 screens. Attendance figures dropped slightly from 1,417,898 to 1,415,465, while the average ticket price increased from £4.86 to £4.94. Average concession per head was up to £2.27 from £2.11 the previous year, according to accounts filed at Companies House. In their report accompanying the accounts, the directors stated: "The group has had another successful year and although there have been reductions in attendances, turnover has increased 2%, which is considered to be in line with industry expectations. This has been attributable to increases in ticket prices and the successful box office film releases in the second half of the year. The group continues to benefit from investment made in digital equipment, the reorganisation and refurbishment of some of its concession stands, and a focused sales drive in the prior period. The principal strategy for achieving its objectives is continued investment in all its sites, improving the quality of the facilities, the design of layouts, and investigating potential expansion of existing sites through increased screen numbers."
Neighbourhood restaurant Julie's brings in Michelin-starred chef ahead of reopening: Neighbourhood restaurant Julie's, based in London's Holland Park, has brought in Michelin-starred chef Shay Cooper ahead of its reopening. Cooper, formerly executive chef at The Goring hotel where he had a Michelin star, will take over the kitchen in September, which coincides with the restaurant's 50th anniversary. The property's owners Tim and Cathy Herring took over the running of the restaurant in 1972 from Julie Hodgess, who is responsible for the restaurant's new design. Cooper will serve a menu of modern British cuisine, with dishes including glazed ox cheek and aged sirloin of beef. He said: "I am excited to contribute to preserving and building upon the legacy of the restaurant. Julie's has always had a loyal following for its ambience and atmosphere, and it is my ambition for the restaurant to gain a reputation for great food."
Barons Eden puts Cotswolds portfolio on the market: Barons Eden, which is rebranding to Be, has brought a portfolio of four sites in the Cotswolds to the market. They are Huxleys Restaurant and Island House, both in Chipping Campden; The Dial House Hotel in Bourton-on-the-Water and The Old Bank in Moreton-in-Marsh. The portfolio is available to purchase either individually or as a whole through agent Savills. Housed in a 17th century building, Huxleys offers 100 covers, including two private dining rooms. Island House, in Chipping Campden's high street, provides an opportunity to create a new food and beverage offering. The Dial House Hotel provides 15 en-suite boutique rooms alongside two recently renovated dining areas and a bar lounge. The Old Bank in Moreton-in-Marsh town centre has planning to convert to a ten-bedroom hotel with restaurant and bar. Barons Eden managing director Adrian Pearson said: "We are choosing to sell our Cotswold assets in order to concentrate on expanding our portfolio of larger hotels and spas."
BrewDog opens US AGM to general public: Scottish brewer and retailer BrewDog has opened its US Annual General Mayhem Festival, taking place on Saturday, 24 August, to the general public for the first time in its four-year history. The event is held at the BrewDog DogTap in Canal Winchester. "This is kind of what we work up to and look forward to every year," said Cassandra Zahran, social media and marketing manager for BrewDog USA. "It's going to be a day full of community elements – and it really just touches on how we can give back to all these people and have our biggest branded event of the year." The festival will feature ten bands, more than 25 craft brewers from across the country and more than 15 food trucks.
Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter goes on market: The site of the Royal Clarence Hotel in Exeter, which was destroyed in a serious fire three years ago, has been put up for sale. The hotel, thought to be the oldest in the UK, partially collapsed following a fire that broke out in an adjacent building on Cathedral Green in October 2016. Owner Andrew Brownsword Hotels has completed significant works to protect and restore the site's historic fabric. With enabling works set to be concluded, it will now be offered for sale. Andrew Brownsword said: "The extensive recovery and preparation work that has been completed at the site means it now offers an excellent opportunity for the next stage of development and I have had to concede this will be realised by others. It was always my vision to deliver a new hotel at the level of luxury and quality as others within our group, however, the financial and resource investment made in the demolition, historic restoration and enabling works has been significant and this has meant it is regretfully unviable for us to develop the level of hotel we had envisaged. This has been a heartbreaking decision for us to take, but, alongside the residents of Exeter, we want to see this corner of Cathedral Yard resorted to its former glory. We believe selling the site now to a group that operates to a different business model to ours, will enable it to start building, unencumbered by all of the challenges and costs already overcome by us, and is the only way we can conclude to make the rebuild happen quickly and viably." Planning permission is place for the rebuild.
Paddy & Scott's to take over food and beverage operation at University of Suffolk: Coffee company Paddy & Scott's is to take over the food and beverage operation for The University of Suffolk this month. Based on the Waterfront in Ipswich, the University of Suffolk offers 45 food and beverage outlets throughout its campus buildings and Paddy & Scott's is set to undertake a complete overhaul, introducing its coffee and food menus. "This is a hugely exciting project for us," said Jon Reed, brand director at Paddy & Scott's. "We are incredibly proud of our high energy, entrepreneurial approach to business – and we really hope the students at the University of Suffolk will engage with our strong story of provenance and love testing out some new coffee-inspired concepts for us." Paddy & Scott's has future plans to create a barista training centre on site and extend barista training to university students. Reed added. "Our aim is to launch a programme that gives students a stepping stone into the industry, but also highlight how much hard work and love goes into each and every cup of coffee."
Lancaster-based operator puts city centre pub on the market to concentrate on other hospitality interests: Lancaster-based operator Martin Horner has put his city centre pub on the market as he looks to concentrate on his other hospitality interests. Horner is marketing the freehold of The Britannia for £345,000 plus VAT through agent Christie & Co, having acquired the wet-led pub in 2017. The property has seating for up to 70 guests across the open plan lounge, dining area, and separate games room. There is also a beer garden at the back. Horner is also behind The Borough in Dalton Square and the attached Borough Brewery in Lancaster as well as The Lodge at Slyne-with-Hest on the outskirts of the city.
Glasgow-based operator to open retro bowling alley and cocktail bar for second site: Glasgow-based operator Ian McColm is to launch a retro bowling alley and cocktail bar for his second site in the city. McColm is opening Bowlarama in the former Tiger Tiger premises in Glassford Street. It will feature four full-sized bowling lanes, a cocktail bar and restaurant, function space and dance floor. McColm told Glasgow Live: "I've been in the drinks industry for 20 years – I've been waiting a long time to bring this to Glasgow. There are plenty of boutique bowling alleys opening further south, in London and Manchester. I've been looking for a place for years – and now we're doing it." McColm also operates Tiki Bar in the city.


Japan About To Follow Spain & Germany Off The Deep End !
I will quote then comment - " TOKYO (AP) — Like other Japanese who were banking on this country's sweeping move toward clean energy, Junichi Oba is angry.
Oba, a consultant, had hoped to supplement his future retirement income in a guilt-free way and invested $200,000 in a 50 kilowatt solar-panel facility, set up earlier this year in a former rice paddy near his home in southwestern Japan.


With a view true to its name covering over one million acres of land, Rocky View is nestled at the base of the foothills just east of the Rocky Mountains in a horseshoe-shape to the west, north and east of the City of Calgary. Its varied landscape consists of open prairie, rolling foothills and spectacular views of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. Rocky View's residents come from a diverse background of ranchers, farmers, business people, long-term Canadian families, and recent immigrants.


He's three months old, but Prince George was definitely the centre of attention at his christening, held on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at the Chapel Royal, which was followed by the official photo shoot held nearby at Clarence House.
Watching his every move was one Queen (Elizabeth), four princes (Philip, Charles, William, Harry), two duchesses (Camilla, Kate), one earl (godparent Hugh Grosvenor), and a passel of relatives and godparents and spouses. Sure, everyone loves looking at a baby, but honestly, the fact that George was wearing the royal family's impossibly elaborate christening gown surely helped.
Queen Elizabeth II posed with her three heirs in the official photographs released to mark Prince George's christening.
She is pictured with her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William and great-grandson George in the photo, released Thursday.
This marks the first time in 120 years that such a photo has been taken. The last time a sitting monarch was alive with three direct heirs was Queen Victoria.
That photo and three other official portraits were taken Wednesday by photographer Jason Bell in the Morning Room at Clarence House, immediately following George's baptism in the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace.
One picture shows 3-month-old George, wearing a replica of an intricate lace and satin christening gown made for Queen Victoria's eldest daughter and first used in 1841, with his parents, William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.
Another shows the trio with the queen and Prince Philip, Charles and wife Camilla and Prince Harry, while the third photo shows the royals along with Kate's family -- parents Michael and Carole Middleton, sister Pippa and brother James.
George's christening was a private service attended only by a few members of the royal family and the Middletons, the baby's seven godparents and their spouses.


text:
noahsage
Is an old mystery. We are about to look at it from a whole new angle.
New Hampshire Mystery Stone of Lake Winnipesaukee
– B.L. Freeborn, August 2012 (updated Nov 2018)
-Thus it came to pass that the day the planet was to die was upon them, and there was no escape.
We have been trained to think within the box's four sided, top and bottom constraints. About the time I went to school, there were whisperings that a guy named Leif may have come to America before Columbus. But it was still gospel that in 1492 the Old World discovered the New World and its people. We are still taught the New World's people came to this continent via a long vanished land bridge in Alaska. And so, tests were designed, grades were determined, and to pass school, we were indoctrinated into these beliefs.
Perhaps you have heard that in Keuka, New York there were remains of an ancient settlement? Those remains have been erased and are sadly gone now forever.
Vermont Stone with Ogham
There are over 800 known ancient sites existing in the New England area of which -nothing- is ever said. There are an assortment of dolmens, menhirs, henges, and stone chambers all of which are strikingly similar to those found in the UK and Europe. In fact, some of these stones have writing on them in the Gaelic alphabet, Ogham, as shown above. (Stone has fallen over.) Just a few miles from Boston is a 30 acre site. I have driven past another site for years and was totally unaware of its existence. If you dig deep enough in the literature and the internet (no need for a real shovel) you can find information on some of these sites. Few, if any, are protected except by diligent landowners. The possibility that they will vanish forever like the Keuka site is very real. Our very ancient world history is in jeopardy.
These sites are in addition to the massive array of ground works built by the Hopewell and Adena Indians that span the better part of North America. (By the way, the name Hopewell sounds English because it is the last name of a property owner upon which a group of mounds sat. The name Adena has a similar beginning.) We are taught today that they were ignorant natives that scooped up dirt in baskets and dropped it in places to build random piles. We are told they are of relatively recent origin (800 to 1000 AD) and probably built for burial purposes.
Miamisburg Mound
View from Mound to Southeast
Miamisburg Mound, Ohio is shown in the picture as it appears today in 2012. The view is spectacular from the top. From this vantage point there is unlimited visibility and directed light can be seen for miles upon miles. The view shown here is towards the southeast looking in the direction of the Great Serpent Mound which is now an Ohio State park.
Ashurbanipal as High Priest, Wikimedia, Pub Dom.
Perhaps this is one of the simple basket carrying people that helped to build the mounds in North America? Perhaps King Ashurbanipal (668 BC-626 BC) helped to build them. Here he carries a basket of soil to contribute to the rebuilding of a temple in Ancient Iraq.
I am giving you this background and posing these questions so that as we discuss the New Hampshire Mystery Stone you will understand this stone did not just appear from nowhere. It simply cannot be a hoax. It may have been stolen from the artist and hidden, but nothing this beautiful gets tossed carelessly away. It is more likely that it was a water burial of a great noble person which allowed the stone to end up in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire and eventually buried near its shore. The information on the stone is very old and forgotten by us, and even the Native Peoples, to be of recent origin.
The message of this stone is not "a lone voice in the wilderness crying out." This stone is a beautifully rendered version of a message that has echoed across the ages. It is an incredibly important message that is about to reverberate clearly again.
Once you understand the message it becomes understandable why our ancestors built these monuments, and so very, very unclear as to how we managed to forget so dreadfully much.
To continue to stay within the box is to cheat ourselves. Just because our education does not allow for any of these possibilities, does not mean they are not true. One must step out of the box just long enough to hear the message of the Mystery Stone. There is plenty of time to jump back in to its small confines afterwards.
So we begin our study of this silent little stone……
This small artifact is on display in the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord. Found in 1872 near Lake Winnipesaukee, its origin remains unclear. Its meaning alludes traditional translation. The only explanation for its symbols and purpose that I have found is that it represented a treaty between two tribes. The first time I saw it, this explanation was satisfactory. Sometime ago I had another look at it and I had the same impression. It was the ear of corn and the indiscernible shapes in the circle beneath it that kept making me think this must be a relatively recent tribal object. I now think this is incredibly old and an object once owned by a High Priest, King, or Queen of great importance. It was that same simple ear of corn that finally made me exclaim in awe as it yielded up the stone's secret.
Tent side of New Hampshire Mystery Stone, photo B. Freeborn, Public Domain.
A study of this artifact proves it to be a truly magnificent and complicated work of art. It contains information privy to only a few persons in the Old World. This small harmless looking stone is of a noble nature and its message is vastly important.
It is a mere 4 inches in height and has a diameter of only 2 ½ inches. Onto this small surface ten images are carefully carved. The stone is made of quartzite or mylonite. The surface is smooth and polished. If it was a naturally occurring stone that was utilized by the artist, then he was fortunate in his find and with his skill. The art is flawless except for a chip near the forehead of more recent appearance. The work is intricate and detailed. The proportions are perfect for the message, so if the artist had faltered he would have had to find another stone of equal ellipsoid perfection. This suggests the stone was turned and then polished to the desired proportions.
The fact that it was probably turned leads most experts to quickly conclude it is of 19th century origin. This would be thinking only within the known context of our accepted knowledge of history. Consider that we cannot explain the construction methods of some of the oldest sites to be found in the world. The debate as to how the Great Pyramids were built still rages. The explanation as to how stones can be cut and fit as perfectly as they are at Machu-Picchu alludes us. Into this class falls this perfectly cut stone.
The idea that it is 19th century is problematic to start. This was first machined before it was decorated. The symbolism is of tents, corn and arrows. Hence, we quickly conclude it was not colonial in nature but tribal. How many tribes had lathes or turning equipment? So then we conclude it is early American art of a unique nature. But that does not seem either satisfactory or logical. If the symbolism could be understood, then we might understand its origin.
On the front panel a large face is cut. On its left side are 2 small symbols, on its rear are 3 and on its right are 2. This comprises 7 small images. On its top is a circle with 8 triangles and a 1/8 th inch bore hole. On the bottom is a circle with 8 triangles tacked on. There is a 3/8 inch bore hole in the bottom. This then creates 10 images upon the stone. Its circumference calculates to 7.9 inches. The layout appears in the sketch.
Layout of images on New Hampshire Mystery Stone, B. Freeborn, Pub Dom.
We shall look at each image individually. Before we begin, we look at it overall and see this array of images creates the following number sequence. The face = 1, then 2 images, then 3 images, then 2 images, and then the face = 1. Or 1, 2, 3, 2, 1
The square root of 12321 is?
111 exactly.
And 111 can be said to represent God.
Consider that there are 7 images in the back grouping which reaffirms the special number 7. Add to this the two images on top/bottom and obtain 9. And then the face makes ten or we have these numbers in series 7, 9, 10 or 7910. The circumference of the object is 7.9 inches. We know this number today as the diameter of the Earth at 7920 miles. This object is an oblate sphere. The Earth is an oblate sphere. This object has circular areas on the top and the bottom just as Earth has circular areas on the top and bottom called the polar ice caps.
The array of seven scenes if read as rows becomes a series of numbers: 3, 3, 1 or we might say 33.1. This number represents an important concept I explain in numerous posts in the future. It represents an extremely significant idea portrayed repeatedly in the Ancient World.
It is easy to imagine the person depicted lived in a cold climate since it appears he is wearing a hood. This is emphasized by two small etched lines as if there are shoulders shown below the face. So the place from which this came was likely cold. The face is serene and silent, almost sad. It is beautiful and perfect in its proportions. Is this not a statement that says, "We were a beautiful and contemplative people" ?
The images on the top and bottom are circles with 8 triangles each. They appear as shown in the cropped images. 8 is an interesting number. It can be said to be 2³ and this always make me think of infinity: doubling, doubling, doubling in all directions. When the 8 triangles from the top and bottom are added together it sums to 16. The Earth moves at the rate of 66,624 miles per hour and so in any given day it moves nearly 1600,000 miles around the sun. The world tirelessly turns and turns rotating the heavens around us. It turns like two enmeshed gears. If the two images are put together a gear assembly is created.
Recall the group of seven images plus the two on top/bottom create the number 79. They can just as easily be arranged as 7 and 2 to create the number 72. The rate at which the pole star precesses is one degree per 72 years.
The overall length of the stone is 4 inches and its width is 2 ½ inches. 4 / 2.5 = 1.6. Here appears the 16 again. The distance Earth moves in a day is 1600,000 miles.
And continuing the idea that the oblate sphere represents the Earth, is there not a large white polar ice cap at each pole? A line through the pole points to the pole star. This stone had a hole in its top and bottom so that a thin staff/pole can be inserted in the bottom and another thin pole can be inserted out of the top. This creates a planet with two ice caps, a pole, and a reminder of the rate of precession of the pole star.
Summing up so far, our stone tells us we have a contemplative people who lived on a planet 7910 miles in diameter that turned at a fixed rate.
Cogwheel by Pearson Scott Foresman, Wikimedia, Pub Dom.
I suggest the grouping of seven images on the back and sides of the stone should be read top to bottom, left to right. So we begin with the first image on the left of the face which is the Tepee or tent. Upon visiting the museum and seeing the Mystery Stone, we were told by the staff that it probably came from out west because the Plain's Indians lived in tepees of the style depicted. This is difficult to argue except that does not preclude other people at other times living in the same style of structures. In fact, the style of tent is not exactly all that unique. It appears in Egypt both historically and presently. It is a style that gives an economy of form and materials. To limit it to one single group of people in a particular time period is excessively restrictive. In fact, the Cherokee tribe is originally from the St. Lawrence and South Carolina areas which means it is not solely a style found in the plains but just as common as the idea of a house with four walls.
We let the argument linger as to when and where, and continue on with the study.
We shall call the image a home because that is more meaningful. Home is where we all live. This home has three panels shown so we might assume it is made of six panels. 6 reminds us of the number of minutes that create an hour and seconds in an hour. From the top projects four stakes. We could say they represent the four corners of the world, or 4 x 6 equals 24 hours in a day. Between the three panels lies 2 distinct lines. So, we have a series of numbers again: 4 3 2 shown by one half of the home. We might take a leap and say two halves would give us 864 and 864000 is the diameter of the Sun and exactly the number of seconds in a day is 86400.
We might also say this home represents the measurement of the world from the pole. If a line fixed at the pole sweeps out we obtain lines of longitude, just as portrayed by the tent. The tent measures 90 degrees. Each panel measures 30 degrees. Thirty degrees is what is called a double hour in longitude. We call every 15 degrees a different time zone.
Now we look for the symbolism in the circle. At first I had attached negative connotations to it such as hole or abyss but then I considered its position beneath the tent. Looking only at the positive we find it can mean: wholeness, completeness, and perfection of form. The Moon is a perfect globe as is the Sun. The Earth is perfection. The planets move in circular orbits. In fact, they move in orbits similar to the ellipsoid form of the stone. Perhaps it then means life was perfect. Life was harmonious.
So, the translation is thus far: "We were a contemplative people who lived on a planet 7910 miles in diameter that turned at a fixed rate around a Sun of diameter 864,000 miles. And this place we called home. We measured our world with rays of longitude. It was perfection. Our lives were complete."
Still, so far so good.
– The eye cannot see what the mind cannot conceive.
Mystery Stone, photo by New Hampshire Historical Society
The image of crossed arrows that is almost a tepee appears in the center back. I like the phrase: the eye cannot see what the mind cannot conceive. That explains why we cannot understand what appears in this image. If it is arrows, they are arrows that have bounced because only two of them have heads.
I suggest they are two images in one. They are first a set of dividers which are used to measure on maps, to inscribe circles and to measure the heavens. They represent the measurement of the Earth and Heavens. As a set of dividers, one must ask at what angle are they positioned? What angle did they want to preserve for posterity? It seems that they record an angle of 56 degrees at the main top and bottom intersection. The smaller angles (very difficult to measure from photos) at the bottom appear to be 35 left and 30 degrees on the right.
The sum of 30 + 56 = 86 which reiterates the diameter of the sun at 86400 miles. The sum of 35 + 56 = 91 and 91 represents the Earth's closest approach to the Sun at 91.4 million miles. The number 56 can be found four times in this small image by considering all the angles displayed.
56 – We discussed this number previously in the post about the 56 Aubrey Post Holes (June 2012) which have been found at Stonehenge in England. It is mysteriously always present yet not a word is ever said about it. It appears in the spelling of Yahweh. It appears and reappears, secretly, over and over.
Before we leave the pattern formed by the crossing lines, notice that there are two large triangles created. This is another version of an often seen symbol. You have seen it most of your life in two forms. The symbolism appears as the Vesica Pisces which is created by the intersection of two circles. In this case the Vesica is split in two halves. The offsetting of the circles is shown by the two identical triangles. Placing a circle in a vesica creates the all seeing eye on a dollar bill, and the basic form was borrowed by the Christians to represent Christ in the symbol of the fish. The original meaning behind these symbols is of great importance and is explained in future posts.
The second idea recorded here is very, very difficult for us to understand. Perhaps this image represents meteorites, or hard rain, as the ancients put it. A rain of pelting meteorites came. Sometimes ancient texts describe it as arrows falling. Arrows from heaven came.
So far so good for the translation but the story has taken an odd turn.
So our translation thus far reads: "We were a contemplative people who lived on a planet 7910 miles in diameter that turned at a fixed rate around a Sun of diameter 864,000 miles. And this place we called home. We measured our world and the heavens with rays of longitude. It was perfection. Our lives were complete until the day the meteorites came."
The next image is of the crescent moon and the crossed spears. This is the image that has always made it very convincing this stone is about a treaty between two tribes. However logical that is, let us set it aside for the time being and reinterpret this image. Notice its position. It is centered within the seven images upon the back. It is the turning point of the story. Previously, we had "a rain of arrows" now we have something that looks like a truce. Could this indicate not only the turning point of the story but the final turning point for mankind?
People have been slowly coming to this realization these last few decades. Something big and bad happened to our planet. We cannot figure out where, or when, or exactly what. Here we have it spelled out for us and we still cannot see it. I can only say we are not giving the subject justice in these brief paragraphs.
In looking at this image we see it is formed by two lines that cross at 90 degrees. If we add the two dots to this we can obtain 90 + 2 = 92. And to what does the 92 refer? It is roughly the distance from the Earth to the Sun in millions of miles. It can also be looked at as 90,1, 1 for 91.2. The closest approach of the planet to the Sun is considered to be 91.4 million miles.
It can also represent a time period. And how can one represent time with a cross? We have been doing it for a couple thousand years. The day Christ died is indicated by a cross. The date to which this image refers is also represented by a cross.
Now to understand exactly what happened we need to study the image again. To read this symbol properly it should probably be inverted. Then one can see the shield is a crater. This is the impact of not one, but two comets. The two dots are also significant. There are numerous ancient drawings that display this two dot pattern just as the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio does. This is a record passed down to us from eyewitnesses. This is a record of two comets which impacted and formed craters. There are numerous comet craters that exist. The Pingualuit Crater in northern Canada is nearly perfect. Was this one of them? The Barringer Crater in Arizona is nearly perfect. Are these the two comet impacts or? Or! Or! Or were they just impacts of what they called "hard rain"? Did the craters they are referring to here dwarf these perfect craters? Were there people who survived these impacts? There are many other crater possibilities. In future posts I suggest there are specific craters to which this symbol refers. I discuss the age of these craters and others according to geologists. This, too, is a lengthy and interesting topic.
So, now the story is speaking of a vastly great tragedy. Next we pause to look at another ancient source which repeats and confirms the idea put forth above……
This image is a relief from Assyria (Calah in present day Iraq) of the Winged Genius. It is currently in the Walters Art Museum.
Assyrian Relief with Winged Genius, Walters Art Museum, Wikimedia
Notice the cone shaped object in this Spirit's right hand. The description file reads: The "benevolent spirit uses a cone-shaped object to sprinkle from his bucket some magic potion upon either a sacred tree or the king depicted on the adjacent relief." If I might re-translate what this not-so-benevolent spirit is doing. He is sprinkling meteorites on the adjacent King and he has the ultimate weapon poised in the air – a comet. It is the cone shaped, egg shaped object that looks a whole lot like the New Hampshire Mystery Stone. He, as a giant, god, or Nephylim, is the force that guides the object. This relief is dated to 883 to 859 BC.
Detail of Cup depicted in Ashur-nasir-pal II Relief from Brooklyn Museum, photo by Wally Gobetz.
There are other versions of this relief. In another, also from Iraq, is a nearly identical representation of the spirit except the man is portrayed as a bird. There are adjoining images which display a man carefully holding a flat cup which is a symbolic depiction of the crater. The detail images of the cone show it is similar in appearance to a pine cone or made of small pieces which is an accurate representation of many comets. We know now that comets are often made of large masses of ice crystals and rock adhered together. From other ancient sources we can determine that a comet came to Earth that broke into pieces. This idea is confirmed in this art. Two pieces struck the planet as shown here in this section of the Asshur or Ashur-nasir-pal II reliefs in the Brooklyn Museum. Between them lies what is called the tree of life but we might correctly call it the polar axis. In our small New Hampshire stone we have the same egg shape and a hole in the top of the stone for an axis. So, we have two comets approaching the polar axis.
Two comets depicted in Ashur-nasir-pal II Relief from Brooklyn Museum, photo by Wally Gobetz.
These comets came to choose who lived and died. The Cross (in the spear/shield image) tells us X marks the spot. Earth is always indicated in astrology as a circle with an x in it. Life survived, despite all odds. Life, after numerous hardships that we can not imagine surviving, found a way. All the beauty of this planet nearly perished in one fateful tragedy not so long ago. All of the advanced civilizations of the past were wiped out in one, just one, fateful day.
Our present day religious symbolism assures us that we have never quite forgotten it happened. We have never forgotten the nearly complete annihilation of our species.
The fear that drives the Christians to accept Christ is a deep seated, long forgotten memory of this tragedy. The fear that drove the Aztecs and Phoenicians to sacrifice their own children was the fear of a repeat of this horrific event. It is a fear that has never left us because the reality is – the danger is ever present.
The Giants, we like to call Nephylim, are the massive forces of nature such as celestial dynamics, magnetism, tidal waves and acceleration. An absence of vocabulary and misunderstanding both then and now, creates multiple gods.
So we understand that what is portrayed in this small work of art was common knowledge among the Kings, Queens and High Priests which directed and paid for the art. The belief that this New Hampshire stone once belonged to a great personage can be concluded. It would have been meaningless to the commoner just as it is today to many.
– It is not what is under the bed that is frightening, but what flies overhead.
That innocent little spiral that stands alone so close to the bottom, is just a twirl. Is it innocent? We have seen it many, many times. It suggests revolution, infinity, turning, a whirlpool… Was it innocent? Or was it deadly? Was it so deadly that it takes a good understanding of engineering to grasp the how of it? What turned? How did it turn? Faster, slower, all around? Could it have turned? Something turned. What was the something? Or does it just mean the danger is all around us at all times, and is present still?
Many pages of discussion on this subject can be found in future posts. The mechanics behind it from an engineering standpoint are explained in the paper: "A Planet Most Miraculous: The Mechanics of Earth's Rotating Crust." The what and how much is explained. But it is the ear of corn that tells us what turned and what happened.
So, let us look at that plain old ear of corn.
Corn and Shield View, Mystery Stone of New Hampshire, photo B. Freeborn, Pub Dom.
It is an ear of corn, plain and simple. Most importantly it has been shucked. The rows run in vertical lines. The kernels run in orderly squares. Remember that little square purse the fierce spirit held so firmly with his big muscular arm in the Assyrian relief above? It is the same idea. So here is a quick riddle that repeats and repeats in all this ancient art. What meets at right angles, runs in rows, runs in columns, segments round objects like in pine cones or kernels in corn? And from the image of the tent we can add, what fans out from a central pole?
Would an ear of corn not amply portray the concept of longitude and latitude to an intelligent scientific civilization, supposedly us, in the distant future? Given our knowledge base should we not be able to grasp that they are trying to convey the message that the impact of a comet turned the lines of longitude and latitude? Are they not saying that the planet was shucked like an ear of corn? But this is impossible!!! Not really. I give an explanation in the paper listed here: A Planet Most Miraculous.
Top View with Corn, Tent and Dividers, Mystery Stone of New Hampshire, photo B. Freeborn, Pub Dom.
We shall add credence to this interpretation. If you look at the stone from the top down, you see directly opposite to the corn is the tent. One represents longitude. One represents latitude. Between them is the central pole and the image of a gear. Longitude and latitude work together. The dividers are poised alongside to measure the change.
– The fates chose me, the fates chose thee, the fates will choose again…
We have discussed all the images except for the last circle with the funny images within it. We will close by returning to the face.
This circle with the deer leg or arm thing seems like the artist was trying to draw a shield made out of pinto hide or he messed up. When the realization dawns as to what it is, opinion changes. This needs to be interpreted in two ways. In the first interpretation, it is an image of an arm raking and creating grooves with flames spouting out of mountains, and volcanoes in the upper part. It can also be seen as submerged land. This is the image of what happened after the impact of the comet. The planet was raked. It was exploding, and ripping. It was being destroyed. As the surface was shucked the crust folded in places and chasms gaped wide in other places.
Where -oh- where was man during this assault upon the planet?
There he is in the same image. It changes now. Now we can see it as an arm swimming through debris. We see animals in the water with him. They are drowning as the oceans rolled out of their basins. This is what would happen if the planet is disturbed. This was not a tidal wave here and there. It was all at once. All of it. Water. It sweeps up and out of ocean basins like a tipped bowl. It is a force that cannot be reckoned with or imagined. They are swimming. They are all in the water on a drowning world. The deluge is upon the world. And it rained for forty days and forty nights.
New Hampshire Mystery Stone, B. Freeborn, Pub Dom.
Now the image of the face reappears. It is a chilling, cold image. It is a man floating and dead in water. A silent face bobs upon the dark black surface. Sightless eyes stare into nothing. Mankind is gone.
There is more to this story. I suggest that you not stop here. Future posts explain much more..
We close with the story of the stone:
"We were a contemplative people who lived on a planet 7910 miles in diameter that turned at a fixed rate around a Sun of diameter 864,000 miles.
And this place we called home.
We measured our world and the heavens with rays of longitude. It was perfection.
Our lives were complete until the day the meteorites came.
And then the comets struck.
We saw them coming. There were two which impacted with the planet, our home. Because of the impact the earth was shucked like an ear of corn.
The surface turned.
The planet was raked and burnt. The ground split asunder. The mountains spewed forth flames. The people and all that lived were engulfed by the oceans. Nothing was spared. The deluge was upon the land.
We swam and swam and watched the animals drown. We swam and swam until we could not hold on.
We all perished. Our homes, our peace, our happiness, our knowledge, all gone.
We remember. We lament. We remember. We lament.
They will return. The danger is all around us at all times."
MORE MYSTERY STONE PHOTOS
11 thoughts on "New Hampshire Mystery Stone of Lake Winnipesaukee"
donmferry says:
The Old World/New World confluence always fascinates me. I hope their many mysteries can be solved. More power to you!
Gilgemesh says:
Harry Horne says:
Inukshook in northwestern BC, and the Arctic could very well be related to the MYSTERY Stones around the word. They certianly go back a long ways.
I agree the art and stone are very similar.
Bruce Cornet says:
Are you interested in two astronomically-oriented long barrows I discovered in the Wallkill River Valley near Goshen, NY? They would go with the Stone Chambers dated by an obsidian dagger blade to 4,000 ybp in Horrigan and Imbrogno's book, Celtic Mysteries (2000).
I am sure the Neara Group would be very interested in knowing about it. Email one of them at their website. They are always looking for old sites and set up field trips to view them. Thanks for sharing.
Bob Tarantino says:
The face on this stone is similar to one found in Schuylkill county PA in 1968.
http://twipa.blogspot.com/2009/03/schuylkill-county-petroglyph.html
Thanks for sharing. The image at the link is interesting.
The New Hampshire Mystery Stone of Lake Winnipesaukee, as well as the Schuylkill County petroglyph clearly appear to be work of Celtic art as shown by the link below. The Pennsylvania petroglyph is an extremely rare find in this state.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2000.525.1/
Artefato fora de lugar: o misterioso ovo de pedra do lago Winnipesaukee - says:
[…] Detalhes das esculturas nos dois lados da Pedra Misteriosa. ( Noahsage) […]
Out of Place Artifact: The mysterious stone egg of Lake Winnipesaukee | Alternative News Network says:
[…] Details of carvings on two of the sides of the Mystery Stone. ( Noahsage) […]
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Indo-European as a Language is Laid Out
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Noah's Age

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Once upon a time, America dreamed of itself as a singing fairy tale for grown-ups, with a happy ending. Norman Rockwell painted this storybook country, and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2d wrote its songs. More than just pop confections, they added up to a kind of secular catechism that sweetly but firmly instructed people on the rules of behavior in a world where America knew best and good triumphed over evil.
Certainly, Rodgers and Hammerstein didn't invent the code of values that their songs taught. With their stern, semioperatic melodies and know-it-all lyrics, they offered an idealized mirror image of American middle-class morality in the heady afterglow of Hitler's defeat. At a moment when everyone understood what was meant by terms like "maturity," "good citizenship" and "mental hygiene," they helped define the notion of a national culture.
In this wholesome, cheery land, nothing could be more desirable than to be as corny as Kansas in August and as normal as blueberry pie. If you kept on whistling a happy tune, you would never walk alone. And on some enchanted evening, you might even find your true love. Those who climbed every mountain, beginning with foothills that were alive with the sound of music, would surely find their dreams.
It was 50 years ago, on March 31, 1943, that Rodgers and Hammerstein astounded Broadway at the opening of their first show, "Oklahoma!" A landmark, with its seamless integration of song and story, it revolutionized musical theater. And in this anniversary year, their enduring legacy is being celebrated by dozens of projects.
Rodgers and Hammerstein together wrote several dozen songs that have had a life outside the theater. The best of them had a polish, romantic confidence and air of authority that inspired millions to live by their sentiments. One of the most influential love songs ever written, "Some Enchanted Evening" from "South Pacific," encouraged a generation to expect to fall in love at first sight, as the lyric promised: "You may see a stranger/ Across a crowded room/ And somehow you know."
But like all fairy tales, that vision had its grim underside. Happy endings only came to those who conformed to the rules, who looked on the bright side and behaved like nice young ladies and gentlemen. And a sense of belonging to that magic kingdom was conditional on belonging to a comfortable stratum of society in which people, when describing an evening out, trillingly threw around highfalutin words like "enchanted."
The genteel ethos of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song -- a middle-class society with a suppressed id -- represented everything that rock-and-roll would aim to smash. If "Some Enchanted Evening" had a rock-and-roll rebuttal, it came in 1956 when a leering Elvis Presley snarled, "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog."
It is only slightly overstating the case to say that all American pop since the mid-1950's, from rock-and-roll to Stephen Sondheim's highbrow deconstructions of their esthetic, has been a reaction to Rodgers and Hammerstein. Certainly rock-and-roll at its rawest represented a spontaneous burst of rebellion by huge segments of American society that found the cultured urbanity of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway songs too sweet, too sophisticated and too pious to speak for them.
But that revolution scarcely negated the team's accomplishment. Every soaring ballad played on adult contemporary radio stations contains a grain of Rodgers and Hammerstein, whether listeners know it or not.
IT ALL BEGAN DURING THE darkest days of World War II, when the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein 2d first collaborated on "Oklahoma!" The show is still acknowledged as one of the two or three most influential of all Broadway musicals, and it helped to define a national mood of optimistic self-assurance that persisted for two decades, until the assassination of John F. Kennedy. "Oklahoma!" opened around the time that country music was becoming recognized as a distinct genre of American pop. And perhaps more than any Broadway show before or since, it addressed America's urban and rural cultures in a language that both could understand.
Over the next 14 years -- from 1945 to 1959 -- Rodgers and Hammerstein would collaborate on eight more Broadway shows -- "Carousel," "Allegro," "South Pacific," "The King and I," "Me and Juliet," "Pipe Dream," "Flower Drum Song" and "The Sound of Music" -- as well as on the movie musical "State Fair" and the television musical "Cinderella." Besides "Oklahoma!" which played 2,212 performances on Broadway, four of those shows would become classics. "Carousel" enjoyed 890 performances, "South Pacific" 1,925, "The King and I" 1,246 and "The Sound of Music" 1,443. The 1965 film version of "The Sound of Music" became one of the blockbusters of all time.
When Rodgers and Hammerstein joined forces, both were already over 40 and had distinguished careers behind them. With the lyricist Lorenz Hart, who died in 1943, Rodgers had composed the scores for a succession of hit shows that included "On Your Toes," "Babes in Arms," "The Boys From Syracuse," "By Jupiter" and, most important, "Pal Joey." Those scores yielded more than 80 popular standards. The quintessential Rodgers and Hart song -- "My Funny Valentine" or "Little Girl Blue" -- represented an exquisite wedding of Hart's wry, wistful observations on love and its follies, with a buoyant melody by Rodgers that felt so natural it appeared to have floated into being.
Hammerstein came from the grander and more formal world of operetta. He had helped to create some of the biggest hits of the 1920's, including "Rose-Marie" and "The Desert Song." In 1927, he hit his pinnacle with "Show Boat," the landmark musical that was the first Broadway show to weave book, music and lyrics into a coherent whole. But by 1942, Hammerstein was down on his luck. He had not had a hit show in 10 years.
In "Oklahoma!" their strengths meshed awesomely, as the Old World grandeur of operetta was joined to a slangy New World vernacular filtered through Broadway's roistering musical-comedy tradition. Rodgers's change of collaborators had such a pronounced effect on his music that his compositions with Hart and those with Hammerstein seem almost like the work of different composers. Where Rodgers and Hart's greatest songs were intimate reflections, Rodgers and Hammerstein's had the slightly stentorian ring of official statements on life. And upon scoring their second consecutive hit with "Carousel," the pair ruled the Broadway musical for the next decade and a half.
"Oklahoma!" was set in Indian territory just after the turn of the 20th century. It opened with "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'!," one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest anthems. A roar of ebullience that announced, "I've got a beautiful feelin' -- everything's goin' my way!" the song seemed to proclaim the coming century as belonging to America, the land of wide-open spaces and the wild west. And when the war was won two years after "Oklahoma!" opened on Broadway, and the victorious troops streamed home in triumph, that proclamation came true. For the next 20 years -- until Vietnam -- everything seemed to be going America's way.
The show, like Rodgers and Hammerstein's subsequent hits, portrays a world in which the choices between good and evil are very clear-cut. The slender plot, which was based on Lynn Riggs's 1931 play, "Green Grow the Lilacs," focuses on whether the wholesome Curly McLain or the mean, dirty-minded Jud Fry will take Laurey Williams to the box social. Eventually, she marries Curly, but at their wedding, Curly accidentally kills Jud in a fight.
With its pivotal dream ballet choreographed by Agnes DeMille, in which Laurey is almost literally pulled in two directions, the show is a crude Freudian allegory of the struggle between a young woman's nice and nasty impulses. But more than that, as Ethan Mordden points out in his book "Rodgers and Hammerstein," a fascinating new study of the team's work, the play is also "a consideration of how a relatively primitive but orderly community deals with brutish lawlessness in its preparation to enter civilization -- that is, to assume American statehood."
In one way or another, all the major Rodgers and Hammerstein shows examine notions of community, civilized behavior and initiation from a perspective that was considered liberal in the 1940's and 50's but that in the light of today's sexual and racial politics seems slightly right-of-center, especially in treating relations between men and women.
In "Carousel" (1945), which was adapted from Ferenc Molnar's 1921 play, "Liliom," the central character, Billy Bigelow, is killed in an attempted robbery but returns to earth to do one good deed. He achieves this at the high school graduation of his shy, lonely daughter, Louise, whom he encourages to listen to the uplifting sentiments of the song "You'll Never Walk Alone." Of the team's "big five" shows, "Carousel" was the only one that approached tragedy.
The other three hits, although they didn't always involve American characters, evoked American hegemony abroad by being set in far-flung locales and by dealing with such war-related themes as East meets West and escape from Nazism. In "South Pacific" (1949), adapted from James Michener's collection of war stories, "Tales of the South Pacific," an exotic Pacific island became what Mr. Mordden calls "a moral testing ground." Before Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse from Little Rock, Ark., and Emile de Becque, a wealthy French planter, can find happiness together, he must embark on a perilous war mission and she must overcome her intolerance and accept his two children, whose mother was an island woman.
"The King and I" (1951), which was adapted from Margaret Langdon's book, "Anna and the King of Siam," told of the true adventures of Anna Leonowens, a Victorian Englishwoman who became the governess to the children of the King of Siam. Clashing with her employer, a polygamous despot, Anna represents the civilized, all-knowing West offering reason and humanity to the barbarous East.
By "The Sound of Music" (1959), the tone of Rodgers and Hammerstein's chin-up optimism had turned sugar-coated and goody-goody. Adapted by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse from Maria von Trapp's autobiography, "The Trapp Family Singers," "The Sound of Music" was set in 1938 in the Austrian Tyrol. It tells how Maria Rainer, an indefatigably cheerful postulant, teaches the seven children of the wealthy Capt. Georg von Trapp such ditties as "Do-Re-Mi" and leads them over the Alps to Switzerland and safety from Nazi invaders.
AS RODGERS AND Hammerstein's career progressed, their social catechism became increasingly doctrinaire. "Carousel" yielded two songs -- "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Soliloquy" -- that, heard off the stage, seemed to hammer home an all-American code of values.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" quickly became a secular hymn and a staple of school glee clubs across the country. A soaring churchy ballad, it proffered an uplifting message of faith without actually invoking the deity. The anthem, whose sentiments were later reprised in the more sugary "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from "The Sound of Music," is probably the most influential of all Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, for it established a genre of inspirational pop ballad that has flourished ever since. Among its more famous descendants are "The Impossible Dream," "You've Got a Friend," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "That's What Friends Are For" and numerous hits for Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie and others.
"Soliloquy" offers a 1940's-style instructional guide on the differences between little boys and girls. The ideal son will be "as tall and as tough as a tree," the daughter "as pink and as white as peaches and cream."
This polarized vision of men and women as sticks and snails versus sugar and spice is implicit in Rodgers and Hammerstein's traditional patriarchal view of sexual roles and marriage. It found its most naively sexist expression in "A Fellow Needs a Girl," from "Allegro." Beginning with the lines, "A fellow needs a girl to sit by his side at the end of a weary day/ To sit by his side and listen to him talk and agree with the things he'll say," the song is a condescending -- not to say didactic -- description of a good wife's emotionally supportive role. This Tarzan-and-Jane version of love ran through many other Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, most notably "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" (from "South Pacific") and "I Enjoy Being a Girl" (from "Flower Drum Song").
More lessons on such themes as antiprejudice ("Carefully Taught" from "South Pacific") and overcoming fear ("I Whistle a Happy Tune " from "The King and I") are threaded through the works. By "The Sound of Music," this preaching had turned icky-poo-infantile in songs like "Do-Re-Mi" and "My Favorite Things." Despite its popularity, the show was pretty much the end of the road for grand, secularized uplift in American musicals.
WHEN THE INEVITABLE reaction came, it was from none other than Hammerstein's brilliant pupil and protege, Stephen Sondheim.
While carrying forward and even refining Rodgers and Hammerstein's standards of craft, Mr. Sondheim systematically dismantled their sunny world view. No longer did America, or anybody else, know best. Nor did that cherished ideal of "normality" hold the stage. From "Company" to "Sweeney Todd" to "Assassins," Mr. Sondheim's shows frequently focused on what used to be called "abnormal psychology."
"Pacific Overtures," in which Westerners were seen as the barbarians wreaking havoc on a stable Asian civilization, suggested a pointed, through-the-looking-glass answer to "The King and I." In "Into the Woods," "Cinderella's" happy-ever-after ending went kaput in the second act. "Sweeney Todd," in which goodness is an aberration in a corrupt, evil world, is the fiendish nightmare reality that "The Sound of Music" tried to deny.
By the time of Sondheim's ascendancy in the 1970's, of course, the dream of America as a fortress of rectitude had crumbled with race riots, assassinations and Vietnam. And the Broadway musical had been superseded as a cultural force by pop records. If Sondheim was Hammerstein's heir and antidote, the less talented Andrew Lloyd Webber is Rodgers's most commercially successful descendant. One reason Mr. Webber's songs may seem hollow, however, is that he has never worked with a lyricist whose talent approaches that of Hart or Hammerstein.
The America of Rodgers and Hammerstein -- where the good guys won, love conquered all and progress was taken for granted -- was itself a dream, a golden bubble of postwar hope and confidence that evaporated more than it burst.
Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals average 2,700 productions a year around the country, including about 600 of "Oklahoma!," their oldest show. The numbers are likely to increase during this 50th-anniversary year, which has been marked -- and will be more so -- by many noteworthy events, including these.
* A new production of "Carousel," directed by Nicholas Hytner, that opened in November in London to critical acclaim. Plans are under way to transfer it to New York.
* A sumptuous studio recording by Philips Classics of "The King and I," starring Julie Andrews, Ben Kingsley, Lea Salonga and Marilyn Horne. Issued in October, it was nominated for a Grammy.
* Ethan Mordden's "Rodgers and Hammerstein," a lavishly illustrated study of the team's work that offers an impressive blend of scholarship and opinion, plus a chapter-by-chapter analysis of the musicals; it was published in October by Harry N. Abrams.
* A commemorative stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the opening of "Oklahoma!" in March 1943.
* Events around the country throughout March to celebrate the beginning of the Rodgers and Hammerstein partnership. In Manhattan on March 2, "The Rodgers and Hammerstein Revue" will open at Rainbow and Stars, where it will run through April 10; on March 18 at Carnegie Hall, "From Columbia to 'Oklahoma!' and Beyond" will honor Columbia University alumni Rodgers, Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart at a benefit, with performances by Barbara Cook, Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline.
* A variety of remastered and repackaged recordings to be issued this spring. Among them: the original-cast albums of "Carousel," "Oklahoma!" and "The King and I" on MCA; "South Pacific" on Sony Broadway, and "Allegro," "Me and Juliet" and "Pipe Dream" on RCA Victor. Sony Broadway will also rerelease a Barbara Cook-Theodore Bikel studio recording of "The King and I," a Nelson Eddy studio recording of "Oklahoma!" and a compilation album, "The Rodgers and Hammerstein Song Book." MCA will release a similar compilation, "The Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection." Earlier this week, Angel records reissued the movie soundtracks to "Carousel," "Oklahoma!" and "The King and I."
* To be published in March: "O.K.!: The Story of 'Oklahoma!' " by Max Wilk (Grove Press), featuring interviews with original company members. Due in the fall, " 'The Sound of Music': The Making of America's Favorite Movie" by Julia Antopol Hirsch (Contemporary Books), about the 1965 film version of the classic.


Pink Beach, or Pantai Merah, as it is aptly named, is one of seven pink beaches on the planet, and is just one of the many amazing features of Komodo Island that make it truly a Natural Wonder of Nature. This exceptional beach gets its striking color from microscopic animals called Foraminifera, which produce a red pigment on the coral reefs. For this reason, it is called Red Beach in the local tongue. When the tiny fragments of red coral combine with the white sands, this produces the soft pink color that is visible along the shoreline. Aside from Pink Beach itself, a few small segments along Komodo's eastern bay also have a pinkish tint.
Located immediately west of Flores island in East Nusatenggara , Komodo Island is one of three larger and many islets that make up the Komodo National Park, and is particularly well-known as the natural habitat of the Komodo dragon. The Komodo Dragon is the largest living lizard, and takes its name after the island.
Take a moment to appreciate panoramic views of turquoise seas, green rolling hills, blue skies and fascinatingly pink sands. Aside from the obvious relaxation amidst this picture perfect scenery, Komodo is not short of interesting activities to partake in. Once you have finished taking in the magnificent surroundings, take a dip in the waters and uncover the marine beauty that Pink Beach has to offer.
Of course, there is much more to see the deeper you venture. Relax on the fairytale-like pink sands and work on your tan. Or join in with the various other available water sports such as kayaking or just having a leisurely swim. If photography is your passion, this is definitely a place to try your hand at capturing the stunning natural beauty of the island. And make sure you stick around till sunset, as the view is amazing. A few points to keep in mind, is that this is an uninhabited island, and it also is the natural habitat of the Komodo Dragon. If you see the creatures roaming the coast or in the water, be sure to keep a distance. Komodo Dragons are excellent swimmers and are even capable of swimming inter-island. Komodo Dragons are wild animals that could be potentially dangerous to people, so it is not recommended to visit this beach without the help of an experienced guide or ranger.
From Bali, local airline has daily flights to Labuan Bajo by small jet or turbo-prop planes carrying 50 passengers. Labuan Bajo is the gateway to the Komodo islands.
Once in Labuan Bajo, you can proceed to Komodo by speedboat.The port in Labuan Bajo is about a 10 minute drive from the Labuanbajo airport. You can choose to dock straight on the fabled Pink Beach, or if you prefer a trek through the coral cliffs and mangroves, you could dock on a different side of the island, and embark on the 4 hour trek by foot to the beach.


No screenwriter or director could possibly tie together the unlikely, turbulent life of James Brown — Soul Brother No. 1, the Godfather of Soul, the hardest-working man in show business.
But maybe an actor could.
As though to acknowledge Brown's brilliant and bizarre life, the makers of "Get on Up" present their story in a fragmented, time-jumping fashion. The man is depicted as an enigma whose erratic adult behavior connects directly to his rough upbringing.
This approach has its ups and downs, but at least it isn't just the same old showbiz rise-and-fall musical biopic. By skipping back and forth in time, we get the idea that Brown never escaped the harshness of his Georgia youth.
Whatever the riddle at Brown's core, Chadwick Boseman has his pulse. The actor played Jackie Robinson in last year's "42," and he gives another committed physical performance here.
Boseman doesn't especially resemble James Brown, but he's electric at channeling Brown's crazy energy and strange self-possession. Even if "Get on Up" loses its way at times, you want to keep watching it for Boseman's fabulous turn.
Don't look to the script by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth for the entire James Brown story. Lots of episodes are left out, and Brown's love life gets reduced to quick glimpses of good and bad behavior.
For a through-line, the Butterworths use Brown's long-time collaborations with youthful friend and musical partner Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis) and business adviser Ben Bart (Dan Aykroyd). The latter is a much-needed parental figure, as Brown's folks (Viola Davis and Lennie James) are far from ideal influences.
Director Tate Taylor ("The Help") knows how to generate dramatic punches, and of course the musical scenes are tough to mess up. Not only are "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "Please Please Please" and "I Got You" killer tracks, but Brown's theatrical style of performance allows for some lively re-creations — including Boseman's spirited impersonation of Brown's hot-footed dancing.
Brown's vocals are used for the soundtrack selections, which is understandable. Boseman gives a splendid performance in every other way, but when it comes to the music itself, James Brown gets the final say.
A James Brown biopic, presented in fragmented, time-jumping fashion. The structure helps get around the fact that nobody can really explain Brown's enigmatic, turbulent life, but the main reason to see the film is Chadwick Boseman's electric performance in the central role. The songs (using Brown's original vocal tracks) are, of course, killer.


text:
Three-times world champion, Grant 'Twiggy' Baker, was the source of many thrills for fans of the now defunct Big Wave Tour. Photo: WSL/Hallman
The Death Of The Big Wave Tour
By Craig Jarvis Sep 6 2019 12:42PM
By Craig Jarvis
Sep 6 2019 12:42PM
Major bummer as the big wave tour wipes out.
As a fan of big wave surfing, the end of the road for the big wave tour can only be seen as a real setback. While the finer details are not readily available, the very fact that the WSL no longer will crown world champions, that they will no longer crown a man and a woman as the best big wave surfers in the world, is a death knell for the sport. Gary Linden's dream of a big wave tour spanning the globe is over.
It has been a long and arduous road for many surfers to get onto the big wave tour, and while some managed to get on and stay on from inception, it was clearly designed to introduce fresh blood to the tour every year. It worked, and there were new faces on tour, and we were stoked for them, as well as a bit nervous for them at places like Nazaré.
It was the hunt for the world title that kept fans stoked. Between months of small surf, and between contests forever on hold, there was still enough in there to keep us enthralled, to keep us hoping for a big day, for the world's best to give it a go.
There were some legendary events. Jaws came to the party more than once and delivered some of the best big wave moments on the planet. Nazaré provided a horror show that we all wanted to see, the slow-motion car crash of big wave wipeouts and hideous caught inside dramas that allowed us to live vicariously through these big wave legends.
Jamie Mitchell and Twiggy Baker charging to wins at Nazaré by taking on deathly left hand wedges; contestants pulling into giant caverns at Puerto; the monstrous right-handers and the chaos of the safety team when Pico Alto ran; the fact that Nic lamb airdropped a set wave left at the right-hander of Punta Galea for the win in Basque Country.
All these were moments of big wave wonder and grandeur, but all made that much more special by the fact that they were all part of a world title hunt. Without that, they might have been classic moments, but not really that special in the scale of worldwide big wave surfing exploits.
Some people might be optimistic about the new big wave spectacle on offer by the World Surf League, but the idea that we need more 'storytelling' from the WSL is a strange and confusing justification for cancelling the tour.
There has been storytelling from the start of the big wave tour. There has been an archived history and there have been hilarious interviews, monstrous wipeouts, cruel injuries, and new faces coming through. There have been clutch moments, there has been dramatic big wave imagery as hungry surfers chasing that elusive title put their lives on the line and forced themselves over the ledges of waves that no man should really attempt – the unridden realm as Mark Foo famously called it – in order to gain the honour, the pride and the glory of a World Title.
When Twiggy Baker won his world titles he made sure that he had a South African flag draped around him. He mentioned his country and all of those surfers back home who had motivated him and kept him going in every one of his speeches. It was an incredible moment for our embattled nation, and the fact that he did it three times 'for our country' is an amazing feat.
That's now finished. The honour of winning a tow-in event in Nazaré will be different, and the glory bestowed upon a surfer who dominates a strike mission to Shipstern will also be different. Winning the 'Big Wave Championship' at Jaws will also possibly ring a little tinny compared to winning a World Title.
The girls are the worst hit. From the high of pay parity and their own tour in the space of two years, they are now left to fight it out on strike missions among the big wave brotherhood, scrapping for crowded set waves in front of the cameras in their bid for a share, however small, of WSL glory. There might be a heat at Jaws dedicated to the girls, but that's about it.
It's a bummer. Those two World Titles are all that the big wave tour really had.
big wavesjawstwiggy bakerwsl
Waves that Mattered: Mark Matthews – Jaws, December 15, 2015
Billy Kemper and Paige Alms Continue To Dominate At Jaws
Twiggy Baker's Triple Threat


text:
Lewis Henry Owain Pugh, valižanski (britanski) general, * 1907, † 1981.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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We know the old adage that is costs more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one. Whilst that may not always be true, it's considered good practice for ecommerce to put plans in place to retain customers by delivering the best possible customer experience.
Interestingly, not all ecommerce teams have coordinated plans in place to understand what makes a customer 'satisfied', or marketing plans tailored to suit different types of customer post purchase.
So today we're going to dive into the world of delivering customer satisfaction via ecommerce.
How do you learn what makes customers happy with your service?
What can you do post-sale to deliver a great customer experience?
How can you use NPS to improve customer satisfaction?
Join us at 1pm UK time on Monday 1st April and do share this post either on Twitter or via email with anyone you think would be interested.