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Home Australia News
Pyrmont, NSW: Tesla caught in crazy city crash
A Tesla crash has sparked the fury of locals after it mounted the kerb on a busy city street, with concerns that speeding in the area could end someone's life.
The car was allegedly travelling at "high speed" down Bowman Street in Pyrmont when the dramatic crash took place, mounting the kerb and travelling into a park before returning to the street, according to witnesses.
"It's so lucky that someone didn't get hurt," a witness told NCA NewsWire.
"There are so many pedestrians, it's school holidays and there's a busy park next door."
Another witness described how another car turning into the street was taken out by the Tesla.
"It didn't see the car flying down so tried to turn onto Bowman street," local Tobias Goodman said.
"The impact of the two cars caused the Tesla to go flying, it hit two poles and swerved back onto the street and hit another car.
"It was left in pieces."
NSW Police are currently investigating after they were called out to the scene following reports of a two-vehicle crash between a Tesla and a Mazda 3.
"A crime scene has been established and investigations are continuing into the circumstances surrounding the crash."
Luckily, no one was seriously injured in the crash, with the driver of the Tesla questioned by police.
The driver of the Tesla, believed to be in his 30s, was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital with minor injuries in a stable condition, while the Mazda 3 driver, also in his 30s, was uninjured.
Another witness who saw the aftermath of the crash described how the driver acted after the incident took place.
"The owner of the Tesla gave me the finger while being questioned by police!" they said on social media.
The crash has drawn the ire of those living in the area, who said they are afraid to cross the street, which is often used as a thoroughfare for speeding cars.
"I've seen so many moments of danger with so many cars speeding down there, it's a straight road and people think that it's fine to speed down but unfortunately it's a highly densely populated area with the high rises," another local Tessa Goodman said.
"I've got a four-year-old, we cross the street to go to the swimming pool, to go to the cafe, to go to the park, we're constantly crossing."
Mr Goodman said the "most upsetting" part of the crash is that he and other locals have been in contact with council to try and put in place speed bumps and other deterrents to stop the speeding.
"I've emailed council a year ago and I got a response from the mayor, but this is the closest that someone has come to getting seriously hurt."
Despite the speed limit in the area being reduced to 40 km/h and additional lining being put in place, locals say that more needs to be done.
"There's no pedestrian crossing, you can imagine its highly dense residential area and there's no where for people to cross safely," Mr Goodman said.
"We need a speed bump before someone actually gets seriously injured…please let's take the opportunity to prevent [an accident] and avoid acting when its too late," Ms Goodman said.
"I don't understand why they don't want to fix the problem."
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Q: How to Write a Flutter Ternary Operator with one of the conditions being null (do nothing) The following works in Flutter, however, I have an IDE warning to avoid "unnecessary statements." I'm sure many will pipe in citing the Latin root of three in ternary and other critiques, and I appreciate that kind of fun dialog, I really do, however, sometimes in a nested sequence, this stuff comes up..not just in the simple example I'm giving.
As I said, the below works, I just get an Android Studio IDE warning. I'd probably be better off to correct it if there is something more appropriate when using a ternary operator
x == 4 ? doSomething() : null

Couldn't find any documentation on this.

A: Just don't use ternary.
if( x == 4 ) doSomething()

Applies to List and Map as well.

A: Android Studio at least has updated this check and it is now allowed without warnings. It was a common logic in validators at least, and someone saw the light.  So the correct answer was: It's perfectly reasonable and good code.  (at least in my opinion!)

A: The ternary operator is not built for such a situation. It should use where we have at least two options
condition ? doThisIfTrue() : doThisIfFalse()

If we have only one option, then simply use if
if ( condition ) {
   doThis
}

The code that you wrote, is not wrong either, but that is not use of ternary operator.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Phnom Penh Post - Pagoda ban for activist monk
Pagoda ban for activist monk
May Titthara | Publication date 06 June 2011 | 08:02 ICT
May Titthara
The venerable monk and activist Loun Savath speaks to Boeung Kak lake residents in March.
Buddish Supreme Patriarch Non Nget has banned pagodas in the capital from hosting Loun Savath, the activist monk who frequently joins land dispute protests and advocates on behalf of displaced villagers.
Loun Savath hails from Siem Reap province's Chi Kraeng district and has been active in supporting villagers in a long-running land dispute there that has seen multiple community representatives arrested. He later relocated to Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh's Daun Penh district, and has joined protests in the capital by residents of the Boeung Kak lakeside and of the Prey Lang forest area.
In a letter dated April 26 and received by Loun Savath last week, Non Nget said pagodas in Phnom Penh are no longer permitted to house the 31-year-old monk because his actions have "caused villagers to think badly about Buddhism".
"What he did is not related to the monks' point of view and has broken the Buddha's rules," Non Nget wrote.
Loun Savath fled Phnom Penh in March for fear of arrest in relation to his activism before resurfacing at a rally held in the capital by the Prey Lang villagers two weeks ago. There, he was forced to flee the scene with the assistance of rights groups when it appeared that local authorities were planning his arrest.
Loun Savath said yesterday that he was undeterred by Non Nget's directive and would continue with his activism.
"The Buddha says that monks must help people who have problems and educate people to do good deeds," he said. "When villagers have a problem, I cannot ignore them."
Loun Savath's land activism has made him unique among Cambodian monks, and he has received little backing for his efforts from religious officials here. Following protests against the Boeung Kak evictions in April, Phon Davy, director of the municipal cults and religions department, said Loun Savath had in fact drawn the ire of Tep Vong, Cambodia's highest-ranking monk.
"[Loun Savath] has violated the rules to such an extent that the Great Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia, Tep Vong, issued a warning letter to ban all monks from joining protests," Phon Davy said at the time.
Loun Savath has so far taken little heed, however.
"What the authorities have done to me is a serious violation of human rights and Buddhist law," he said yesterday.
"I have done nothing wrong, so why are they evicting me from my pagoda?"
Ouch Leng, head of the land programme at local rights group Adhoc, said Non Nget's directive was unjustified.
"The authorities should be encouraging him, because what he does is not for himself, but to find justice for people who are victims of land disputes," Ouch Leng said.
Contact author: May Titthara

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Neha Patil
Love my family & adore animals! Always try to have a positive mindset
In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, then transport it away to another location. The particulate breakdown of rock or soil into clastic sediment is referred to as physical or mechanical erosion; this contrasts with chemical erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by its dissolving into a solvent (typically water), followed by the flow away of that solution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres.
Rainfall and surface runoff
Chemical erosion
Wind erosion
Natural rates of erosion are controlled by the action of geomorphic drivers, such as rainfall; bedrock wear in rivers; coastal erosion by the sea and waves; glacial plucking, abrasion, and scour; areal flooding; wind abrasion; groundwater processes; and mass movement processes in steep landscapes like landslides and debris flows. The rates at which such processes act control how fast a surface is eroded. Typically, physical erosion proceeds fastest on steeply sloping surfaces, and rates may also be sensitive to some climatically-controlled properties including amounts of water supplied (e.g., by rain), storminess, wind speed, wave fetch, or atmospheric temperature (especially for some ice-related processes). Feedbacks are also possible between rates of erosion and the amount of eroded material that is already carried by, for example, a river or glacier. Processes of erosion that produce sediment or solutes from a place contrast with those of deposition, which control the arrival and emplacement of material at a new location.
While erosion is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. At well-known agriculture sites such as the Appalachian Mountains, intensive farming practices have caused erosion up to 100x the speed of the natural rate of erosion in the region. Excessive (or accelerated) erosion causes both "on-site" and "off-site" problems. On-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and (on natural landscapes) ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the eventual end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of water bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads and houses. Water and wind erosion are the two primary causes of land degradation; combined, they are responsible for about 84% of the global extent of degraded land, making excessive erosion one of the most significant environmental problems worldwide.
Intensive agriculture, deforestation, roads, anthropogenic climate change and urban sprawl are amongst the most significant human activities in regard to their effect on stimulating erosion. However, there are many prevention and remediation practices that can curtail or limit erosion of vulnerable soils.
Rainfall, and the surface runoff which may result from rainfall, produces four main types of soil erosion: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill erosion, and gully erosion. Splash erosion is generally seen as the first and least severe stage in the soil erosion process, which is followed by sheet erosion, then rill erosion and finally gully erosion (the most severe of the four).
In splash erosion, the impact of a falling raindrop creates a small crater in the soil, ejecting soil particles. The distance these soil particles travel can be as much as 0.6 m (two feet) vertically and 1.5 m (five feet) horizontally on level ground.
If the soil is saturated, or if the rainfall rate is greater than the rate at which water can infiltrate into the soil, surface runoff occurs. If the runoff has sufficient flow energy, it will transport loosened soil particles (sediment) down the slope. Sheet erosion is the transport of loosened soil particles by overland flow.
Rill erosion refers to the development of small, ephemeral concentrated flow paths which function as both sediment source and sediment delivery systems for erosion on hillslopes. Generally, where water erosion rates on disturbed upland areas are greatest, rills are active. Flow depths in rills are typically of the order of a few centimetres (about an inch) or less and along-channel slopes may be quite steep. This means that rills exhibit hydraulic physics very different from water flowing through the deeper, wider channels of streams and rivers.
Gully erosion occurs when runoff water accumulates and rapidly flows in narrow channels during or immediately after heavy rains or melting snow, removing soil to a considerable depth.
Valley or stream erosion occurs with continued water flow along a linear feature. The erosion is both downward, deepening the valley, and headward, extending the valley into the hillside, creating head cuts and steep banks. In the earliest stage of stream erosion, the erosive activity is dominantly vertical, the valleys have a typical V cross-section and the stream gradient is relatively steep. When some base level is reached, the erosive activity switches to lateral erosion, which widens the valley floor and creates a narrow floodplain. The stream gradient becomes nearly flat, and lateral deposition of sediments becomes important as the stream meanders across the valley floor. In all stages of stream erosion, by far the most erosion occurs during times of flood, when more and faster-moving water is available to carry a larger sediment load. In such processes, it is not the water alone that erodes: suspended abrasive particles, pebbles and boulders can also act erosively as they traverse a surface, in a process known as traction.
Bank erosion is the wearing away of the banks of a stream or river. This is distinguished from changes on the bed of the watercourse, which is referred to as scour. Erosion and changes in the form of river banks may be measured by inserting metal rods into the bank and marking the position of the bank surface along the rods at different times.
Thermal erosion is the result of melting and weakening permafrost due to moving water. It can occur both along rivers and at the coast. Rapid river channel migration observed in the Lena River of Siberia is due to thermal erosion, as these portions of the banks are composed of permafrost-cemented non-cohesive materials. Much of this erosion occurs as the weakened banks fail in large slumps. Thermal erosion also affects the Arctic coast, where wave action and near-shore temperatures combine to undercut permafrost bluffs along the shoreline and cause them to fail. Annual erosion rates along a 100-kilometre (62-mile) segment of the Beaufort Sea shoreline averaged 5.6 metres (18 feet) per year from 1955 to 2002.
Shoreline erosion, which occurs on both exposed and sheltered coasts, primarily occurs through the action of currents and waves but sea level (tidal) change can also play a role.
Hydraulic action takes place when air in a joint is suddenly compressed by a wave closing the entrance of the joint. This then cracks it. Wave pounding is when the sheer energy of the wave hitting the cliff or rock breaks pieces off. Abrasion or corrasion is caused by waves launching seaload at the cliff. It is the most effective and rapid form of shoreline erosion (not to be confused with corrosion). Corrosion is the dissolving of rock by carbonic acid in sea water. Limestone cliffs are particularly vulnerable to this kind of erosion. Attrition is where particles/seaload carried by the waves are worn down as they hit each other and the cliffs. This then makes the material easier to wash away. The material ends up as shingle and sand. Another significant source of erosion, particularly on carbonate coastlines, is the boring, scraping and grinding of organisms, a process termed bioerosion.
Sediment is transported along the coast in the direction of the prevailing current (longshore drift). When the upcurrent amount of sediment is less than the amount being carried away, erosion occurs. When the upcurrent amount of sediment is greater, sand or gravel banks will tend to form as a result of deposition. These banks may slowly migrate along the coast in the direction of the longshore drift, alternately protecting and exposing parts of the coastline. Where there is a bend in the coastline, quite often a buildup of eroded material occurs forming a long narrow bank (a spit). Armoured beaches and submerged offshore sandbanks may also protect parts of a coastline from erosion. Over the years, as the shoals gradually shift, the erosion may be redirected to attack different parts of the shore.
Chemical erosion is the loss of matter in a landscape in the form of solutes. Chemical erosion is usually calculated from the solutes found in streams. Anders Rapp pioneered the study of chemical erosion in his work about Kärkevagge published in 1960.
Glaciers erode predominantly by three different processes: abrasion/scouring, plucking, and ice thrusting. In an abrasion process, debris in the basal ice scrapes along the bed, polishing and gouging the underlying rocks, similar to sandpaper on wood. Scientists have shown that, in addition to the role of temperature played in valley-deepening, other glaciological processes, such as erosion also control cross-valley variations. In a homogeneous bedrock erosion pattern, curved channel cross section beneath the ice is created. Though the glacier continues to incise vertically, the shape of the channel beneath the ice eventually remain constant, reaching a U-shaped parabolic steady-state shape as we now see in glaciated valleys. Scientists also provide numerical estimate of the time required for the ultimate formation of a steady-shaped U-shaped valley - approximately 100,000 years. In a weak bedrock (containing material more erodible than the surrounding rocks) erosion pattern, on the contrary, the amount of overdeepening is limited because ice velocities and erosion rates are reduced.
Glaciers can also cause pieces of bedrock to crack off in the process of plucking. In ice thrusting, the glacier freezes to its bed, then as it surges forward, it moves large sheets of frozen sediment at the base along with the glacier. This method produced some of the many thousands of lake basins that dot the edge of the Canadian Shield. Differences in the height of mountain ranges are not only being the result tectonic forces, such as rock uplift, but also local climate variations. Scientists use global analysis of topography to show that glacial erosion controls the maximum height of mountains, as the relief between mountain peaks and the snow line are generally confined to altitudes less than 1500 m. The erosion caused by glaciers worldwide erodes mountains so effectively that the term glacial buzz-saw has become widely used, which describes the limiting effect of glaciers on the height of mountain ranges. As mountains grow higher, they generally allow for more glacial activity (especially in the accumulation zone above the glacial equilibrium line altitude), which causes increased rates of erosion of the mountain, decreasing mass faster than isostatic rebound can add to the mountain. This provides a good example of a negative feedback loop. Ongoing research is showing that while glaciers tend to decrease mountain size, in some areas, glaciers can actually reduce the rate of erosion, acting as a glacial armour. Ice can not only erode mountains, but also protect them from erosion. Depending on glacier regime, even steep alpine lands can be preserved through time with the help of ice. Scientists have proved this theory by sampling eight summits of northwestern Svalbard using Be10 and Al26, showing that northwestern Svalbard transformed from a glacier-erosion state under relatively mild glacial maxima temperature, to a glacier-armour state occupied by cold-based, protective ice during much colder glacial maxima temperatures as the Quaternary ice age progressed.
These processes, combined with erosion and transport by the water network beneath the glacier, leave moraines, drumlins, ground moraine (till), kames, kame deltas, moulins, and glacial erratics in their wake, typically at the terminus or during glacier retreat.
The best-developed glacial valley morphology appears to be restricted to landscapes with low rock uplift rates (less than or equal to 2 mm per year) and high relief, leading to long-turnover times. Where rock uplift rates exceed 2 mm per year, glacial valley morphology has generally been significantly modified in postglacial time. Interplay of glacial erosion and tectonic forcing governs the morphologic impact of glaciations on active orogens, by both influencing their height, and by altering the patterns of erosion during subsequent glacial periods via a link between rock uplift and valley cross-sectional shape.
At extremely high flows, kolks, or vortices are formed by large volumes of rapidly rushing water. Kolks cause extreme local erosion, plucking bedrock and creating pothole-type geographical features called Rock-cut basins. Examples can be seen in the flood regions result from glacial Lake Missoula, which created the channeled scablands in the Columbia Basin region of eastern Washington.
Wind erosion is a major geomorphological force, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. It is also a major source of land degradation, evaporation, desertification, harmful airborne dust, and crop damage—especially after being increased far above natural rates by human activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture.
Wind erosion is of two primary varieties: deflation, where the wind picks up and carries away loose particles; and abrasion, where surfaces are worn down as they are struck by airborne particles carried by wind. Deflation is divided into three categories: (1) surface creep, where larger, heavier particles slide or roll along the ground; (2) saltation, where particles are lifted a short height into the air, and bounce and saltate across the surface of the soil; and (3) suspension, where very small and light particles are lifted into the air by the wind, and are often carried for long distances. Saltation is responsible for the majority (50-70%) of wind erosion, followed by suspension (30-40%), and then surface creep (5-25%).
Wind erosion is much more severe in arid areas and during times of drought. For example, in the Great Plains, it is estimated that soil loss due to wind erosion can be as much as 6100 times greater in drought years than in wet years.
Mass movement is the downward and outward movement of rock and sediments on a sloped surface, mainly due to the force of gravity.
Mass movement is an important part of the erosional process, and is often the first stage in the breakdown and transport of weathered materials in mountainous areas. It moves material from higher elevations to lower elevations where other eroding agents such as streams and glaciers can then pick up the material and move it to even lower elevations. Mass-movement processes are always occurring continuously on all slopes; some mass-movement processes act very slowly; others occur very suddenly, often with disastrous results. Any perceptible down-slope movement of rock or sediment is often referred to in general terms as a landslide. However, landslides can be classified in a much more detailed way that reflects the mechanisms responsible for the movement and the velocity at which the movement occurs. One of the visible topographical manifestations of a very slow form of such activity is a scree slope.
Slumping happens on steep hillsides, occurring along distinct fracture zones, often within materials like clay that, once released, may move quite rapidly downhill. They will often show a spoon-shaped isostatic depression, in which the material has begun to slide downhill. In some cases, the slump is caused by water beneath the slope weakening it. In many cases it is simply the result of poor engineering along highways where it is a regular occurrence.
Surface creep is the slow movement of soil and rock debris by gravity which is usually not perceptible except through extended observation. However, the term can also describe the rolling of dislodged soil particles 0.5 to 1.0 mm (0.02 to 0.04 in) in diameter by wind along the soil surface.
The amount and intensity of precipitation is the main climatic factor governing soil erosion by water. The relationship is particularly strong if heavy rainfall occurs at times when, or in locations where, the soil's surface is not well protected by vegetation. This might be during periods when agricultural activities leave the soil bare, or in semi-arid regions where vegetation is naturally sparse. Wind erosion requires strong winds, particularly during times of drought when vegetation is sparse and soil is dry (and so is more erodible). Other climatic factors such as average temperature and temperature range may also affect erosion, via their effects on vegetation and soil properties. In general, given similar vegetation and ecosystems, areas with more precipitation (especially high-intensity rainfall), more wind, or more storms are expected to have more erosion.
In some areas of the world (e.g. the mid-western USA), rainfall intensity is the primary determinant of erosivity, with higher intensity rainfall generally resulting in more soil erosion by water. The size and velocity of rain drops is also an important factor. Larger and higher-velocity rain drops have greater kinetic energy, and thus their impact will displace soil particles by larger distances than smaller, slower-moving rain drops.
In other regions of the world (e.g. western Europe), runoff and erosion result from relatively low intensities of stratiform rainfall falling onto previously saturated soil. In such situations, rainfall amount rather than intensity is the main factor determining the severity of soil erosion by water.
In Taiwan, where typhoon frequency increased significantly in the 21st century, a strong link has been drawn between the increase in storm frequency with an increase in sediment load in rivers and reservoirs, highlighting the impacts climate change can have on erosion.
Vegetation acts as an interface between the atmosphere and the soil. It increases the permeability of the soil to rainwater, thus decreasing runoff. It shelters the soil from winds, which results in decreased wind erosion, as well as advantageous changes in microclimate. The roots of the plants bind the soil together, and interweave with other roots, forming a more solid mass that is less susceptible to both water and wind erosion. The removal of vegetation increases the rate of surface erosion.
The topography of the land determines the velocity at which surface runoff will flow, which in turn determines the erosivity of the runoff. Longer, steeper slopes (especially those without adequate vegetative cover) are more susceptible to very high rates of erosion during heavy rains than shorter, less steep slopes. Steeper terrain is also more prone to mudslides, landslides, and other forms of gravitational erosion processes.
Tectonic processes control rates and distributions of erosion at the Earth's surface. If tectonic action causes part of the Earth's surface (e.g., a mountain range) to be raised or lowered relative to surrounding areas, this must necessarily change the gradient of the land surface. Because erosion rates are almost always sensitive to local slope (see above), this will change the rates of erosion in the uplifted area. Active tectonics also brings fresh, unweathered rock towards the surface, where it is exposed to the action of erosion.
However, erosion can also affect tectonic processes. The removal by erosion of large amounts of rock from a particular region, and its deposition elsewhere, can result in a lightening of the load on the lower crust and mantle. Because tectonic processes are driven by gradients in the stress field developed in the crust, this unloading can in turn cause tectonic or isostatic uplift in the region. In some cases, it has been hypothesised that these twin feedbacks can act to localise and enhance zones of very rapid exhumation of deep crustal rocks beneath places on the Earth's surface with extremely high erosion rates, for example, beneath the extremely steep terrain of Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas. Such a place has been called a "tectonic aneurysm".
Human land development, in forms including agricultural and urban development, is considered a significant factor in erosion and sediment transport. In Taiwan, increases in sediment load in the northern, central, and southern regions of the island can be tracked with the timeline of development for each region throughout the 20th century.
Mountain ranges are known to take many millions of years to erode to the degree they effectively cease to exist. Scholars Pitman and Golovchenko estimate that it takes probably more than 450 million years to erode a mountain mass similar to the Himalaya into an almost-flat peneplain if there are no major sea-level changes. Erosion of mountains massifs can create a pattern of equally high summits called summit accordance. It has been argued that extension during post-orogenic collapse is a more effective mechanism of lowering the height of orogenic mountains than erosion.
Examples of heavily eroded mountain ranges include the Timanides of Northern Russia. Erosion of this orogen has produced sediments that are now found in the East European Platform, including the Cambrian Sablya Formation near Lake Ladoga. Studies of these sediments points that its likely that the erosion of the orogen was beginning in the Cambrian and then became stronger in Ordovician.
If the rate of erosion is higher than the rate of soil formation the soils are being destroyed by erosion. Where soil is not destroyed by erosion, erosion can in some cases prevent the formation of soil features that form slowly. Inceptisols are common soils that form in areas of fast erosion.
While erosion of soils is a natural process, human activities have increased by 10-40 times the rate at which erosion is occurring globally. Excessive (or accelerated) erosion causes both "on-site" and "off-site" problems. On-site impacts include decreases in agricultural productivity and (on natural landscapes) ecological collapse, both because of loss of the nutrient-rich upper soil layers. In some cases, the eventual end result is desertification. Off-site effects include sedimentation of waterways and eutrophication of water bodies, as well as sediment-related damage to roads and houses. Water and wind erosion are the two primary causes of land degradation; combined, they are responsible for about 84% of the global extent of degraded land, making excessive erosion one of the most significant environmental problems worldwide.
Erosion Wikipedia
Similar TopicsErosion (morphology)
Erosion and tectonics
Erosion (morphology)


Pitigliano is a medieval village perched high atop a ridge in the Tuscan region of Italy. The town is centuries old, dating back to Etruscan times, and is inhabited by only a few hundred people. From the outside, its buildings look and feel as if they were carved out of the giant walls of rock encircling its base. Inside you'll find impossibly beautiful ceramic tile roofs, dense tunnels and passageways, and an atmosphere where time feels like its suspended in mid air.


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Distributed Ledger Technology & Law 101 Series | Non-Fungible Tokens ("NFT") | Common Questions and Answers About NFT | NFT 101 a Crash Course
ONC Lawyers
Hong Kong November 12 2021
"I'm selling this song about NFTs as an NFT… Actually, doesn't feel quite right selling this. Will pass..."
- Elon Musk circa 17 March 2021
Re-Cap | What are NFTs in Hong Kong?
Non-Fungible Tokens (the full name of NFT), are unique digital certificates stored on the Blockchain and are designed as a digital medium to certify a defined set of ownership rights in an asset (which is usually in digital form (e.g. digital art).
NFTs is unique in that it is able to provide a powerful tool to establish and demonstrate ownership rights especially in view of how quickly digital works can be duplicated and redistributed in the age of the internet.
NFTs are "non-fungible' in the sense that each NFT is unique and hence, of different value which is a contrast to 'fungible' assets like the US Dollar or Bitcoin, which are identical and interchangeable with one another.
As you plan on where to have your next move into the crypto-market, don't forget to follow our Distributed Ledger Technology 101 series penned by crypto-practitioner Joshua Chu and his team of specialists at the subscribe link provided. Your journey into Blockchain and Law begins here.
Birth of a NFT | The Minting Process
The 'Minting' of an Non-Fungible Token refers to the creation of an NFT and its documentation on a blockchain. Minters may be the creator of the work associated with the NFT, such as the artist, or someone with the appropriate rights to mint an NFT of a digital asset.
There are a number of different third-party platforms, not affiliated with Christie's, that provide services that help creators and rights holders mint NFTs. Some of these platforms also serve as marketplaces for buyers and sellers of NFTs.
Usually, NFTs are generated using a 'smart contract' which is essentially a computer code that is stored on the blockchain. A NFT will include a number of different fields including
the NFT's unique identifier (AKA 'TokenID') ("ID");
the wallet address of the current owner of the NFT ("Ownership"); and
an identifier of where the digital work of art attached to the NFT can be found ("Location").
Since blockchain transactions are fully transparent, anyone can view an NFT and its underlying information, including the blockchain address of the current owner and the blockchain address of each owner since the creation, or 'minting' of the NFT.
When an individual purchase an NFT, they will need to have a digital wallet to (i) receive, (ii) access and (iii) transfer the NFT in question. An NFT can as a result be bought and sold like any other pieces of traditional property (no different than baseball cards). Such sales and purchase are effectuated via NFT transfers through the blockchain from the seller to the purchaser.
Benefits of NFT (A non-exhaustive list)
One of the biggest attraction of NFT is the concept of uniqueness. Since NFTs are non-fungible asset stored on the blockchain, the owner of the artwork (via NFT) knows that they alone hold that specific NFT.
Note: In some cases, an artist or rights holder may decide to have a smart contract generate a limited number of NFTs for the same work, similar to the manner in which an artist might release a limited edition of a physical work, though such an act may be construed as fractionalization, which may have legal/regulatory implications depending on the jurisdiction.
That said, buyers of NFT can see the number of tokens affiliated with a specific artwork and can purchase such tokens as part of a limited collector's edition.
Once an NFT is minted on the blockchain, the NFT in question will be a unique virtual asset where anyone with access to the internet can view and access to confirm the following properties:
metadata;
history of ownership (note that Chinese paintings increase in value via noteworthy owners);
TokenID (the unique identifier of each NFT);
blockchain address; and
any other underlying information.
On top of that, since all transactions taking place on the blockchain are publicly viewable so long as there exists the internet, buyers can see the address from which the NFT was first minted. The added history of ownership may theoretically add value to such artwork overtime without traditional concern for fraud.
As emphasized above, history adds value. Similar collection of traditional Chinese paintings in which preceding owners will put their unique ownership stamp at the back of the painting, every transfer or purchase of NFT is recorded on the blockchain (which is so much more immutable). Further details such as other blockchain address of every digital wallet which has held the NFT will also be held. As such, the ownership history of the artwork can be tracked. Provenance in turn will become automated, accurate and verifiable, unlike traditional artwork.
What Does 'Minting' a NFT Really Mean?
The Minting of an NFT is the term used to describe the creation of an NFT, a process of which includes documentation of the NFT's birth on the blockchain. The mint of the NFT may be the creator of the artwork associated with the NFT (e.g. the artist) or someone with the appropriate rights that will enable that person to mint an NFT into a digital asset.
There are a number of different third-party platforms that provides services which will help creators create the rights associated with NFT (essentially selling the service of crafting a smart contract (as opposed to lawyers creating a deed of ownership)). Many such platforms will also serve as a market place for NFTs.
Who Provides Certificate of Authenticity for NFTs?
As NFTs are stored and recorded on the blockchain, the NFT itself is the certificate of authenticity with the birth of the NFT documented on the blockchain.
Where are Non-Fungible Tokens Stored At?
As mentioned, each NFT is recorded on the blockchain and is usually on the chain on which the NFT was first minted. It should be noted that each blockchain is unique and may not be interoperable with one another (hence not transferrable to different blockchains).
Where are the Digital Artwork Usually Stored At?
It is crucial to note that digital artwork associated with an NFT is not generally stored on the blockchain itself (no more so will you find a house stored within your property's title-deeds). NFT is essentially digital versions of title deeds in real life (with rights the same as what you can expect in a Deed of Mutual Covenants of sorts).
Such works are considered to be "off-chain" (note that off chain transactions refer to those transactions occurring on a cryptocurrency network that move the value outside of the blockchain). Users may find that their digital artwork stored on interplanetary file system, a decentralised file storage network.
How Can One Purchase an NFT? Can You Purchase with Fiat Money?
Depending on the platform/marketplace a collector wishes to purchase an NFT, most platforms will accept payments in fiat currency as well as cryptocurrency, though there is no stringent requirement in this respect. Any person with internet access and the requisite consideration may become a collector.
Common Glossary Related to NFTs
All in all, what is certain is that digital art is here to stay. The different manner in which various jurisdictions have been reacting to NFTs shows the various lines of regulation that may ultimately be put in place to grapple with this newfound trend (be it securities regulation or tax regulation). It therefore remains to be seen how Hong Kong will tackle this new asset class which is set to dominate the markets.
All in all, what is certain is that digital art is here to stay. The different manner in which various jurisdictions have been reacting to NFTs shows the various lines of regulation that may ultimately be put in place to grapple with this newfound trend (be it securities regulation or tax regulation). It therefore remains to be seen how Hong Kong will tackle this new asset class which is set to dominate the markets
This article was first published in the November 2021 issue of the Hong Kong Lawyer, the official journal of The Law Society of Hong Kong.
This article is co-authored by James Park of BX Venture
ONC Lawyers - Joshua Chu
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Reserve Bank raises cash rate again
As expected, the Reserve Bank increased interest rates for the fourth time in a row this morning, lifting the official cash rate to 8.25 per cent.
But the lift in the official cash rate (OCR) from 8 per cent is likely to be the last one, Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard said.
ANZ National chief economist Cameron Bagrie said today's raise was expected but the call that it was likely to be the last one was interesting.
Mr Bagrie said it was a prudent strategy for the economy, and expected interest in the Kiwi dollar to start waning.
The dollar fell on the news of the rise to dip briefly under the US80c mark before returning to just above it about 11am.
"I think the New Zealand (dollar) is looking pretty toppy at these sorts of levels."
Dr Bollard pointed to the tight labour market, rising oil prices and food prices as inflationary pressures that required dampening.
"That is why we are increasing the OCR today," he said.
Equally he said the 0.25 per cent rise in the OCR would encourage New Zealanders to save, and previous rate hikes had started to show a slowdown in borrowing.
"Provided they keep this up, we think the four successive OCR increases we have delivered will be sufficient to contain inflation," Dr Bollard said.
Westpac lead economist Brendan O'Donovan said the Reserve Bank announcement was a clever one.
Mr O'Donovan said the Dr Bollard was sending a message to the market that they were finished increasing, a move that had quelled the dollar initially, but whether they could hold that strategy depended on the economy reacting to four successive rate increases and slowing somewhat.
Mr O'Donovan said the odds were still with another OCR increase in six weeks at the next announcement if economic data continued to be strong.
"It's a conditional we've finished, but if the data continues its recent strong run, they'll be forced to go again."
While today's rise was expected, some thought it unnecessary with Cameron Brewer of the Newmarket Business Association described Dr Bollard's move as "like firing live rounds into a retreating crowd"
He said all Auckland's retailing districts had been reporting a very flat winter and all the empirical evidence was already pointing downwards.
The hike was unnecessary as consumer spending and confidence had been falling for months. He said retailers were experiencing their toughest winter since the Asian financial crisis a decade ago.
"Let's not forget that Dr Bollard has not dropped the OCR since 24 July 2003 and in fact for the last four announcements it has gone up.
"This instrument alone has already been starting to bite and wear down consumers."
"It has been a particularly cold winter in Auckland, but it seems the economic chills are far from over," Mr Brewer said.
The recent strength of the dollar had been attributed partly to the popularity of the currency because investors known as "carry traders" could borrow at low interest rates in other countries and buy Kiwi dollars to take advantage of New Zealand's high interest rates.
Mr Bagrie said this morning's announcement would be interpreted as bed news for the New Zealand dollar.
"The market is now going to price in the next move from the Reserve Bank as being a cut instead of a hike. That gives a very different message to overseas investors who are looking at playing the carry trade," he said.
Official cash rate recent history
Date Move OCR
26 Jul 07 +0.25 8.25pc
7 Jun 07 +0.25 8.00pc
26 Apr 07 +0.25 7.75pc
8 Mar 07 +0.25 7.50pc
25 Jan 07 No change 7.25pc
OCR previously unchanged since 8 Dec 05
The dollar originally broke through the US80c barrier on Monday night and peaked at a new 22-year post-float high above 81c on Tuesday.
Dr Bollard said the strong economy was good news for New Zealand but acknowledged the rising dollar was hurting exporters.
He warned that the exchange rate was not sustainable in the medium term and investors should be aware of that.
Predicting currency movements is nearly impossible, and most commentators' continual prophecies of a correction have been confounded by the relentless recent strength of the dollar.
Some economists had been picking the exchange rate to continue upwards, with at least one raising the possibility of reaching parity with the US dollar.
The Reserve Bank's continual OCR increases had raised the ire of New Zealand's primary export sectors.
Industries such as seafood and some exporting manufacturers have called for the government to intervene through section 12 of the Reserve Bank Act - which enables the government to direct the bank in what to do.
Seafood Industry Council general manager Alistair Macfarlane has said every 1c rise in the exchange rate against the US dollar costs the fishing industry $20 million in lost earnings.
There has been no statement from the Government on the possibility of an intervention but Finance Minister Michael Cullen has admitted trying to ward off currency speculators and offshore "carry" traders - who borrow money at low interest rates in places like Japan and invest in New Zealand dollars - by warning of the possibility of a sudden drop in the Kiwi dollar.
The .25 of a percentage point increase will hurt homeowners on floating interest rates or those whose fixed rates are coming up for renewal - about a quarter of current mortgages are due to be renegotiated during the next 12 months at fixed rates around 9 per cent.
with NZPA
DOMINIONPOST


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Welcome to Goffs-Churchgate Academy. Our school forms part of the Generations Multi Academy Trust, led by the Goffs Academy. Since the start of the autumn term 2017, it has benefited from new leadership, a revised curriculum and robust expectations across the board.
Both academies offer very distinct secondary learning experiences, with the deliberately much smaller size of Goffs-Churchgate designed to provide for those children who learn and achieve best in a smaller environment coupled with an extremely strong sense of community. The school is extremely proud of this strong sense of community, which is nurtured so that every child can enjoy making a positive contribution to their school.
Both of the academies function on the same principles of:
Strong leadership, relentlessly focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for each child
Academic rigour
Extremely high and non-negotiable expectations of behaviour
Extensive pastoral support systems including Directors of Learning, student support officers, Learning Mentors, counsellors, and extended provision through ChEXS where the Academy Trust are the lead agency (http://www.chexs.co.uk/ )
These principles have been applied with great success at Goffs over many years now, and underpin all of the work at Goffs-Churchgate.
We firmly believe that every child can succeed in whatever they put their minds to. Through our mantra of Respect, Aspire, Nurture and Achieve our young people are encouraged and taught to be respectful, resilient, compassionate, confident and engaged. Within the school we have extremely high expectations of behaviour, attendance and uniform, all of which shape our school community.
The school benefits from a fantastic range of facilities. All lessons take place either in a brand new teaching block or newly refurbished rooms. This includes brand new Science, ICT and Technology facilities. The school also benefits from an indoor swimming pool and a brand new 3G Astro pitch.
Our student body plays an influential and exciting role in shaping the future of the school. Through the Student Executive and Community Captains, led by our Head Boy and Girl, the students have a voice in all decisions in the school from the appointment of staff to development of facilities.
As an entirely new school, we will drive forward continuous improvements to ensure that every student leaves the school with a high quality set of qualifications giving them access to the next stage of their educational experience. Beyond examination results, students will leave as well-rounded, respectful young adults.
Our school is a happy and caring community, staffed by a team of highly committed teachers and support staff, working in partnership with Trustees and parents to provide the best possible education. The website will give you a flavour of our school and community.
You are also warmly encouraged to visit and to see first-hand what makes us such an exciting and ambitious community. We look forward to meeting you.
Thomas Sparks


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16 of the Best Drift Cars
Want to get into drifting? Find your closest event and bring one of these cars.
Brian Silvestro
Drifting is one of the most fun things you can do with a car. Here are some of the best cars to take sliding.
Sideshow LukeYouTube
The IS 300 comes with Toyota's indestructible 2JZ straight-six, and could be optioned with a manual transmission and a limited-slip differential. Pair those things with a nice long wheelbase and solid Japanese build quality, and you've got yourself a great base for sideways action.
Lone Star DriftYouTube
There's no beating the versatility of the Honda S2000. It works no matter what kind of driving you're into—canyon carving, autocrossing, track days, drifting, you name it. The S2000 can do it all.
The 240SX has become the hallmark of any good drift event. Go to any Clubloose weekend and you'll run into tons of them, all modified differently for drifting. A balanced chassis, long wheelbase, and massive aftermarket are big reasons why.
Lee Brimble
The Focus RS was one of the first mass-production cars to offer a standalone "drift mode" for people who want to go sideways. That should tell you all you need to know.
Toyota Corolla (AE86)
The AE86-generation Corolla was made famous by the drift-centered Initial D anime. It's solidified itself as a legitimate collector's car, but that hasn't stopped owners from having fun with it.
The 350Z may not be the greatest driver's car on earth, but it's pretty great for drifting. Prices are low, and it checks all the boxes needed for you to go have fun on a twisty course.
Of course, if you want to drive something vintage, Nissan has a good selection of rear-wheel drive, front-engine compacts to choose from. The 200SX is one of the best.
Eneko PrinsYouTube
No matter the generation, the BMW M5 is a full-blown drift weapon. Big power going to the rear wheels combined with a long wheelbase makes for one hell of a time. Though the new one is all-wheel drive, it has a rear-wheel drive mode to ensure you can still get sideways on demand.
Depending on how you feel about a live axle, the Mustang can be a wonderful car to take drifting. The V-8 has enough power from the factory to keep you sliding, and aftermarket support is plentiful.
Taylor RayYouTube
Like the Mustang, the GTO has the perfect formula for spinning tires: A big V-8 with a manual transmission sending power to the rear wheels.
The RX-7 is like many other cars on this list: Front-engined, manual, and rear-wheel drive. Where it differs is the power source. Because rotaries aren't well-known for their reliability, many drifters do some sort of engine swap (V-8, 2JZ, SR20, etc.) to keep it moving on track.
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S
Similar to the Focus RS, lots of new AMG cars have a dedicated drift mode built in. The GT 63 S, above, is one of them. Since most of the lineup has gone all-wheel drive, it's a welcome feature.
BMW 3-Series (E36)
While the E30-generation 3-Series has become a sort of collectable, the E36 sits in a nice middle ground of being cheap enough to take drifting, and simple enough so that it can be easily repaired or upgraded.
The E46-generation 3-Series has become cheap enough where drifters are starting to adopt the platform as well. It's a bit heavier, but just as balanced.
Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86 / Scion FR-S
The GT86 broke the record for longest continuous drift last year, spanning five hours and over 100 consecutive miles. The record was broken by the new M5, but nonetheless, that should tell you all you need to know about the BRZ-86 twins' drifting capabilities. And now, used examples are getting cheap enough where they make sense to take to actual drift events.
The Miata makes for a fine drift car if it's set up correctly. Because it has a short wheelbase, it's more prone to snap into oversteer, making it harder to hold a slide. Plus, it doesn't have much power. But dial it in correctly, and you'll be sideways for days.
The 28 Best Japanese Sports Cars Ever Made


This award was established in 1993 at the request of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan with funds received from earnings from the ANP 1992 Topical Meeting. It is to be made to an individual or individuals who have made original and excellent contributions to the advancement of reactor technology. This award should emphasize recognition of advances in the areas of design and safety in reactor technology.
Any member of the Society can nominate a worthy candidate, and the candidate does not have to be an ANS member. The nominee should be the author of one or more peer-reviewed original technical papers or patents contributing to the advancement of reactor technologies.


Wanting to enjoy a world-class cruise experience but don't have much time to spare? The great selection of three day cruises departing from Australia's major ports offer the perfect solution! From short journeys between Australia's east coast capitals through to themed specialty cruises enjoying round trips from a single port, there's a short cruise available to match most budgets and interests.
A great way to enjoy a taste of cruising life and meet like minded individuals, specialty three day cruises are available in a selection of themes, catering to a wide variety interests. Laugh out loud at some of the country's funniest aboard a comedy cruise, indulge in gourmet dishes on a food and wine cruise or dance a long weekend away aboard a dedicated music cruise.
Offering a taste of the cruising life, short classic cruises are the perfect opportunity to enjoy a sample of the entertainment, food and activities offered during a cruise without having to commit to an extended voyage. Great for first time cruisers, three day classic cruises are a great chance to discover whether cruising suits your travel style or if specific cruise line offers everything you're looking for in a holiday at sea.
Looking for a different way to reach some of Australia's biggest and best waterfront cities? A wide selection of cruises make their way from one coastal port to another, meaning you can slow down, unwind and enjoy the journey with a cocktail in hand. Whether you're travelling from Sydney to Brisbane, Melbourne to Adelaide or following another route, you'll discover plenty of great ways to travel in style.
Three day cruises depart from most of Australia's major cruise ports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Fremantle. Find and compare a variety of three day cruises with Webjet and find a cruise to match your budget and travel plans.


Monitoring medication intake by role playing with individual is vital for Empowerment and Options, LLC instruction. Individuals will learn how to place medications in pill boxes for daily doses, how many times a day medication should be taken and how to take or call in prescriptions to a pharmacy for refills. Most important of training is teaching individuals how to dispose of medication that has already expired.


When using a GraphQL binding, you get access to the functionality of GraphQL API without needing to know any of its details — such as the API endpoint, authentication requirements or any other intricacies to interact with the API as these are all abstracted away by the binding.
To see what GraphQL bindings look like in practice, you can check out the existing bindings for the GitHub API as well as the Yelp API (by Devan Beitel).
GraphQL bindings are modular building blocks that allow to embed existing GraphQL APIs into your own GraphQL server. This makes it extremely easy to access data from various GraphQL sources and integrate these in a single GraphQL API. Think about it as turning (parts of) GraphQL APIs into reusable LEGO building blocks.
GraphQL bindings take the idea of schema delegation to the next level and make it easy to reuse, embed, compose and share GraphQL APIs.
The core idea of creating a binding for a GraphQL API is to provide a dedicated object which represents the functionality of the API. The object exposes methods which mirror the queries defined in the GraphQL schema.
Instead of constructing queries as strings and sending them over manually to the API (with fetch or a GraphQL client like graphql-request), you'll simply "build" your query using your programming language by invoking these methods.
When using a typed language, a GraphQL binding maps the GraphQL API types to your programming language.
The major strength of GraphQL is its strongly typed schema. However, when accessing GraphQL APIs by sending queries as strings, the advantages of GraphQL's strongly typed nature get lost! Bindings are a way to regain this advantage by invoking (typed) functions instead of sending raw queries.
Note: GraphQL bindings work for queries, mutations and subscriptions. While the article only explicitly mentions queries, it actually refers to all three operation types.
Note: Each generated binding function not only takes the query arguments as input, but also allows to pass a selection set for the query as another argument. It can be passed as a string or even as the familiar info object from the GraphQL resolver chain. This helps tremendously when embedding another GraphQL API into your server, check out the Node.js tutorial on How to GraphQL to see how that works.
Pragmatic API & simple abstraction: Easy to invoke the embedded GraphQL API via dedicated functions; no need to fiddle with authentication and other special access conditions.
Great IDE support: Autocompletion and other awesome IDE features.
Reusable: Can be easily shared as reusable packages using NPM (or other package managers).
Compile-time error checking: Static bindings allow for static analysis which will catch type errors for you while developing your app.
Language agnostic: Works with any (typed) programming language.
GraphQL was invented to solve the problem of integrating existing APIs by abstracting away the complexity of gathering data from multiple endpoints behind a single, coherent API. While GraphQL has proven to also work in various different settings, wrapping REST APIs remains an extremely compelling use case for GraphQL!
If you want to build and share a binding for an existing GraphQL API, the easiest way to do so is based on the graphql-binding package.
The core primitive provided by that package is a Binding class which receives the GraphQL schema of the target API as a constructor argument. This allows for it to generate dedicated functions which mirror the root fields of the schema and provide direct access to the operations exposed by the GraphQL API.
Consider the example of the following GraphQL API. Note that this is a contrived example that only serves to explain how to use the graphql-binding package — in a real-world scenario, the schema would not originate in the same application where the binding is created. In fact, most of the time you'll be dealing with remote schemas.
GraphQL bindings allow for better IDE support code and thus greatly improve developer experience.
Auto-completion and static type checking are game changers for the developer experience when building GraphQL servers.
As mentioned above, one of the most powerful properties of GraphQL in general is its strong type system. Arguably, strongly typed programming languages are the best candidates to take advantage of this property by translating GraphQL types into their own types, providing developers with confidence and safety with regards to the API operations they're able perform (and the payloads they can expect from the API).
With a bit of additional tooling, the idea of (static) GraphQL bindings make this benefit almost trivial to achieve for any strongly typed language.
UPDATE, May 2018: Since version 2.0 of GraphQL Bindings, code generation works slightly differently. Learn more here.
The GraphQL CLI includes a graphql prepare command allowing to easily add static type generation as a build step to your project.
schemaPath: Points to your GraphQL schema (in the example above, we'd have to extract the schema defined in the typeDefs variable into its own file to make this work).
extensions.prepare-binding.output: Where to place the generated bindings.
extensions.prepare-binding.generator: Which generator to use, (right now, the following generators exist: binding-js & binding-ts can be used for any GraphQL API; prisma-js & prisma-ts provide extra convenience for Prisma services).
The `Boolean` scalar type represents `true` or `false`.
The `String` scalar type represents textual data, represented as UTF-8 character sequences. The String type is most often used by GraphQL to represent free-form human-readable text.
Note that helloworld.ts should never be edited manually, but will be updated automatically every time you make changes to your schema.
Another really exciting application of GraphQL bindings is for generating a mapping from your database layer to the application layer. In that context, it effectively takes the role of an ORM in your server stack.
For example, with Prisma as your "GraphQL ORM" layer, you can use the prisma-binding package directly or generate a static binding for your TypeScript code using the mentioned prisma-ts generator.
Note: If you're bootstrapping your GraphQL server with graphql create and choose one of the TypeScript boilerplates, .graphqlconfig will already be configured for you and static bindings are automatically generated.
GraphQL bindings are a fantastic tool to easily reuse, share and compose existing GraphQL APIs and a huge step forward in the GraphQL ecosystem as a whole.
If you're curious about similar approaches for schema stitching, you should definitely check out GrAMPS by Jason Lengstorf. To learn more about this project, you can also tune into the GraphQL Radio episode with Jason (also available on iTunes). GrAMPS and GraphQL bindings even work together, you can check out a working example of such a scenario here.


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Beabadoobee - Fake It Flowers (Dirty Hit)
Beabadoobee (aka Bea Kristi) first got our attention last year with her third EP of lo-fi bedroom indie-pop tunes, Space Cadet. The 20-year-old's star really took off, however, when Canadian rapper Powfu sampled her song "Coffee" as the chorus of his own "Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)," which ended up being a worldwide hit.
However, Bea really didn't have anything to do with that song and was set on following her own path, which led to Fake It Flowers, her full-length debut.
Bea is part of a generation of young indie rock artists, such as Soccer Mommy and Snail Mail, mining the alt/college rock of an era literally before they were born. Fake It Flowers owes a lot to Juliana Hatfield, The Sundays and other female artists who were working in this mode in the mid-'90s. There's also a fair bit of early Smashing Pumpkins dynamics in here, most notably in "Sorry." About halfway through the song, it takes off on a rocket into a total Siamese Dream guitar homage. And the "Together" video is the most 120 Minutes thing imaginable.
Singles "Care" and "Worth It" are built around a massive crunching guitar hook at the center of them. Beabadoobee really cranks things up for "Charlie Brown," a song about how her tattoo of good ol' Charlie & Snoopy symbolizes her issues overcoming depression and self-harm. There are also plenty of dreamy moments like "Further Away" and the acoustic-based "How Was Your Day?" which takes the production back to those early, lo-fi recordings.
Most of her lyrics are about the subtleties of youthful relationships, on display in the chorus of "Worth It": "Seem to be breaking up / Connection too slow / So just try texting again / Don't pick up the phone / Don't think we can be friends / 'Cause you're too pretty / I wanna see you again / I don't know what I'm saying." "Sorry" is a letter to former friends who were unable to shake their drug problems, while the oddly titled "Horen Sarrison" is an unabashed love song to her boyfriend Soren Harrison (get it?). Fake It Flowers ends with the intentionally over-the-top "Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene," which are the names of her hypothetical future children with the object of her affection/obsession.
Fake It Flowers starts to blend together after a while, as the record as a whole ends up riding the vaunted Nirvana-via-Pixies "loud/quiet/loud" dynamic. Musically, Beabadoobee isn't breaking the mold here, but doing a note-perfect pastiche of a moment in musical history, giving older listeners a rush of nostalgia while connecting with her younger fans, who may be inspired to dig deeper into the past.


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NHL delivers counter-proposal to union in push to save the season
NEW YORK, N.Y. - With the NHL and Players' Association trading proposals back and forth ahead of a deadline to save the season, hope is on the rise that an agreement to return the game to the ice is getting close.
What happens Wednesday will likely determine if that ends up being the case.
Armed with a new comprehensive offer from the league—presented on Tuesday night after a 24-hour period that saw top NHL executives work through New Year's Eve—the union is expected to provide a response at some point during the day. Just as importantly, it must also decide whether it will let a self-imposed deadline pass to file a "disclaimer of interest," which would throw negotiations into uncertainty at a critical juncture.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league isn't focused on that possibility and noted that the NHL has been making some movement on the key issues.
"In our response, there were certain things that the players' association asked for that we agreed to, there were some things that we moved in their direction and there were other things that we said no," Bettman said. "But that's part of the process."
The sides have now exchanged three different proposals over the last five days—easily the most aggressive stretch of bargaining during negotiations that have stretched over six months.
For the second straight night, Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr remained very tight-lipped when speaking with the media. Fehr declined to be specific about what was being negotiated.
"It's better to be meeting than not but I'm not saying anything else more about it," he said.
The talks are being held with an eye on preserving at least a 48-game schedule—the same number that was played following the 1994-95 lockout. An agreement would need to be in place by Jan. 11 for that to happen.
For now, the more important deadline passes just before midnight on Wednesday when the NHLPA's executive board must decide if it wants to keep being represented by the union. Players voted unanimously last month to give that 30-member committee the ability to dissolve the NHLPA prior to the deadline, which would open the door for anti-trust lawsuits and potentially halt negotiations.
A decision by the players not to file the disclaimer would be seen as a sign that the labour talks are going well.
There have already been a few hints the 108-day lockout may be nearing its end. Players who have spent time in Europe are starting to trickle back to North America, including Bruins forward Tyler Seguin and Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who wrote on Twitter that "hopefully I'm coming back for the right reason."
With a push now on to make an agreement, Fehr and Bettman rejoined talks for the first time in more than a month. The two leaders stayed out of the bargaining room during three days of negotiations in early December.
Last week, the NHL softened demands on new contract rules and included a salary cap of $60 million for the 2013-14 season—a number the union believes is too low. That would severely limit the money teams have to spend in the coming off-season.
The sides also held a series of smaller meetings Tuesday to discuss issues such as revenue sharing and pensions "to make sure there was a common understanding," according to Bettman.
Both leaders indicated that it was a good sign the parties were going to be in the same room together for a fourth straight day.
"The fact that we're involved in a continuous process is something that I'm glad to see, but we're clearly not done yet," said Bettman.
The union leaders and a handful of players left the league office around 10 p.m. on Tuesday night and were facing a potentially long night.
"What we have to do is go through the document, try to make some sense out of it, compare it and see what the appropriate thing is to do next," said Fehr.
When asked how many issues remained to be worked out, Bettman replied that "nobody's counting like that."
"We're not trying to keep score, we're trying to get an agreement done," he added.
Prior to talks going off the rails last month, Fehr said the sides were so close that they were virtually on top of one another on all of the important issues and reiterated that statement again this week.
Tuesday's talks came on a day the NHL has devoted to celebrating the sport with the Winter Classic outdoor game. This year's event between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs was expected to draw more than 100,000 fans to Michigan Stadium, but it was cancelled two months ago.


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By:  Goolsby (Senate Sponsor - Lucio)                             H.B. No. 1885
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 28, 2003;
May 1, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on
Jurisprudence; May 20, 2003, reported favorably by the following
vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 20, 2003, sent to printer.)
relating to certain filing fees in a suit affecting the
parent-child relationship.
SECTION 1.  Section 110.002(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a)  The clerk of the court may collect a filing fee of $15 in
a suit for filing:
(1)  a suit or motion for modification;
(2)  a motion for enforcement;
(3)  a notice of application for judicial writ of
withholding;
(4)  a motion to transfer;[.]
(5)  a petition for license suspension; [or]
(6)  a motion to revoke a stay of license suspension; or
(7)  a motion for contempt.
SECTION 2.  (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship or motion in a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship filed on or after the
effective date of this Act.  A suit affecting the parent-child
relationship or motion in a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship filed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the suit or motion was
filed, and the former law  is continued in effect for that purpose.


text:
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SK Telecom Exceeds a million 5G subscriber mark in Just 140 times
SK Telecom has announced it has reached the milestone of a million 5G subscribers — a mere 140 day since the launching of its own network in April.
Currently, the South Korean operator's 5G subscribers accounts for over 3.5percent of its total subscriber base of 28 million. According to the South Korean telecom operator, its 5G user base climbed as rapidly because its 4G LTE customer base. When the firm first started LTE in July 2011, it merely took approximately 8 weeks for LTE to attain more than a million readers. The organization's figures show that the average monthly information utilization of consumers who switched apparatus from LTE into 5G climbed almost 65percent from 20.4GB (LTE) into 33.7GB (5G).
As of August 19, SK Telecom enrolled 880,000 5G customers because the next-generation telecom technician was initially introduced. The amount of those subscribers abruptly jumped in two weeks with the initiation of the Samsung Galaxy Notice 10 smartphone. Right now, the business provides three 5G smartphones; the Galaxy S10 5G, V50 ThinQ 5G, and Galaxy Notice 10 5G.
Reporting its own Q2 performance earlier this month, SK Telecom posted revenue of 3 billion, operating income of 218 million, and net earnings of #175m. This was primarily due to the organization's market share in 5G the telecom operator's earnings jumped from the quarter. On the other hand, the provider's operating income decreased, mainly because of advertising expenses and investment from the 5G network.
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Posted by: ckckred | March 16, 2014
What Movie Would You Like To See Turned Into A TV Series?
In the last few weeks, FX has aired a series of promos for Fargo, a miniseries based on Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 classic. While I was initially concerned, I've become more hopeful on the prospects of Fargo since the series has a strong cast (which includes Martin Freeman, Bob Odenkirk, Billy Bob Thornton, and Glenn Howerton), the Coens are executive producing and will provide much influence over the show's direction, and FX is the perfect home for the series (if it's anything like the movie, it will fit right in next to a show like Justified).
Fargo comes out on April 15th, and my anticipation has got me thinking about possible movies that could be made into a TV show or miniseries. I'd really like to see Mulholland Drive as a show to see what David Lynch's original idea was like. And it'd be interesting if recent ensemble pictures (like A Separation or Computer Chess) were made into series. But what about you?
Posted in Movies, Questions, TV | Tags: Billy Bob Thornton, Bob Odenkirk, Coen brothers, Ethan Coen, Fargo, FX, Glenn Howerton, Joel Coen, Martin Freeman
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I don't really have one, least not that I'm currently of. But I could get behind a Mulholland Drive series.
By: jjames36 on March 16, 2014
It'd be interesting to see the direction Lynch would go with Mulholland Dr. if it were a TV show. I would definitely like to see him do another series again.
By: ckckred on March 18, 2014
really good question with so many potentially horrible answers (Gladiator, Titanic…) and I can't help but think of the catastrophic results of turning 90s classic Clueless into a show. But now that you put me in a Noir mood by mentioning Mulholland Drive, I'll go with L.A Confidential.
By: Anne Louise on March 16, 2014
LA Confidential is a good choice, I haven't even thought of that. It would work very well.
I wish they could do for Harry Potter series what they've done with Game of Thrones.
I could also see a James Bond TV show although it would probably turn out a little something like 24.
By: Brittany Rene' Rivera on March 16, 2014
A James Bond TV series would be cool to see. It'd probably take a serialized pattern.
Well, which shows have actually been successful at this? MASH? So considering that, yeah, it would need to be something with a more ensemble cast like you said. But I can't think of any at the moment.
By: ianthecool on March 16, 2014
MASH is the best example of a movie turned into a TV show. It'd be interesting to see some recent ensemble pictures made into TV series, but it'd be hard to make the transition from big to small screen.
I just saw the movie. Wasn't impressed
By: Dave on March 16, 2014
What did you not like about it? It's one of my favorite Coen brothers movies.
It drew a lot of its humor off the Minnesotan accent, and I've lived up there, the funniness of the accent winds down and you get used to it after a while, and suddenly it's not funny on its own. I also don't work well with dark humor things, so most of the time while watching I kept thinking….there's just…no…point
I'd love to see Mulholland Drive as a TV show, although Lynch would need to be involved (which he probably wouldn't be).
By: Three Rows Back on March 16, 2014
Mulholland Dr. would be great to see on TV, but I agree that Lynch would definitely have to be involved. I wonder what it would be like if he went to a network like HBO with the project, where he would have been given more freedom than ABC.
That's a good point. Would love to see Lynch back.
The Muppets. Yeah I know, but it has been 33 years since they made a new episode. It's time for it to come back.
By: Mark Hobin on March 16, 2014
I'd like to see The Muppets go back to television as well.
Mulholland Drive, L.A confidential and more Twin Peaks!
By: chris2508 on March 17, 2014
Can't go wrong with Twin Peaks. Love Fire Walk With Me, though most people hate it.
A Jack Reacher TV show could work. It would be like TV shows used to be, where the hero goes from place to place, helping people out.
By: Monkeyboy on March 18, 2014
Jack Reacher would definitely work well as a TV show, probably much better than as a movie.


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Thompson flirts with triple-double as Ginebra quashes Blackwater in Davao
Feb 9, 2019 7:47 PM PHT
Delfin Dioquino
MANILA, Philippines – Scottie Thompson dazzled in his hometown as Barangay Ginebra gave Blackwater an 85-67 beating in the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup at the Davao Del Sur Coliseum on Saturday, February 9.
A native of Digos City, Thompson impressed before his townsmen and messed with a triple-double of 16 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals to help the Gin Kings bag their second straight win and improve to 3-2.
It was complete obliteration for the Gin Kings, who outscored the Elite 44-28 at halftime and never looked back.
Japeth Aguilar topscored for Ginebra with 20 points to go with 9 rebounds and 3 steals while Greg Slaughter piled up 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 25 minutes of play.
Also making his presence felt in the win was Kevin Ferrer, who came off the bench and fired 14 points off 3 triples with 4 boards.
Ginebra's formidable defense was in full display in the victory, limiting Blackwater to make only two of its 24 three-point attempts.
The Elite, though, tried to mount a comeback after narrowing the gap to 13 early in the 3rd quarter behind Joseph Eriobu, 35-48, but that was the closest they could get as the Gin Kings stretched their lead to as large as 24.
Eriobu delivered 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals while Mike Digregorio also had 14 markers and 3 boards for Blackwater, which absorbed its third straight loss to slip to 1-5.
Rookie Abu Tratter chipped in 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals in the losing effort.
Ginebra 85 - Aguilar 20, Slaughter 17, Thompson 16, Ferrer 14, Dela Cruz 5, Mercado 4, Caperal 3, Cruz 3, Chan 2, Mariano 1, Tenorio 0, R. Aguilar 0, Devance 0, Teodoro 0.
Blackwater 67 - Digregorio 14, Eriobu 14, Tratter 13, Desiderio 7, Palma 6, Sumang 4, Belo 3, Alolino 2, Sena 2, Jose 2, Jose 2, Cortez 0, Dario 0, Maliksi 0.
Quarters: 22-12, 44-28, 68-46, 85-67.
– Rappler.com
@dioquinodelfin
Delfin Dioquino dreamt of being a PBA player, but he did not have the skills to make it. So he pursued the next best thing to being an athlete – to write about them. He took up journalism at the University of Santo Tomas and joined Rappler as soon as he graduated in 2017.
more from Delfin Dioquino


Aside from my regular posts, I am introducing this little tangent: Stop to Smell the Parking Meters. Despite its name, it is not completely random. This ties back to my original idea for the blog: opening our eyes!


Snow days at work - what are your rights?
A snow day might be a thrill for children, but less so for adults. What are your rights if your work is disrupted by wintry weather?
If employees can't get to work because of severe weather conditions, most are not automatically entitled to be paid, according to Acas.
There are exceptions to this, though, for instance if the employer provides the transport, such as a bus service, or if the travel itself is part of your working time.
Also, some people have clauses in their contracts saying they will still be paid even if the weather means they are delayed or can't get in to work.
Even if you are not entitled to pay for a snow day, you will not necessarily lose out.
Both conciliation service Acas and government advice website Gov.uk suggest that if employers and employees are both flexible, they can come up with arrangements which will keep everyone happy.
Possible solutions include allowing you to work from home or from another office which you can get to more easily. Alternatively, your employer could let you make up the time at a later date.
Many parents find themselves having to stay away from work when their child's school closes because of snow.
Acas advises that employees are entitled to take unpaid time off to look after dependants in an emergency situation, and this includes a school or nursery closing for the day.
The right is to take as much unpaid time off as is reasonable to make alternative arrangements for childcare, but in practice many employers will be flexible in this situation. It may also be possible for some parents to work from home for the day.
If your workplace closes because of the weather, you are still entitled to be paid, and your employer cannot require you to take the time as annual leave. However, if it's possible for you to work from home or another workplace, you will probably be expected to do so.
If there is advance notice of severe weather, your employers can require you to take the day as holiday. But they have to give at least two days' notice if they want you to take one day as leave, or four days' notice for two days of leave.


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Home review In Print Once Again, JOWMA Battles An Epidemic
Once Again, JOWMA Battles An Epidemic
Tiferet Schafler
6 Tammuz 5781 – June 16, 2021
Photo Credit: EZM Productions
Founding JOWMA board of directors at the Inaugural event in May 2018: (L-R) Dr. Chana Neuberger, Dr. Miriam Knoll, Dr. Eliana FIne Feld, Dr. Bat-Sheva Maslow, Dr. Sherrie Orzel, Dr. Mira Helman.
When the Jewish Orthodox Women's Medical Association started, members did not have vaccine education on their minds. The group, known as JOWMA, began two years ago as a networking and mentoring organization for frum female medical professionals.
"My main goal, when I thought of what would become JOWMA, wasn't an organization to provide community education," said Dr. Eliana Fine Feld, MD, first year OBGYN resident at Stony Brook University Hospital. "It was to support women in the Orthodox community who wanted to go into the medical field. It was to provide mentorship and networking opportunities to frum female physicians, physician trainees, and pre-medical students; and to show women that it is possible to have a successful career as a physician while having a family."
So how did JOWMA become a leader in the community in promoting the Covid-19 vaccines?
Founder and CEO of JOWMA Dr. Eliana Fine Feld, addressing the audience at the 1st Annual JOWMA Symposium in January 2020.
In a word: Timing. In March 2019, when Fine Feld started the organization, a measles outbreak was plaguing different pockets of the U.S., including several Orthodox communities. Fine Feld and other early JOWMA members realized that although some were not getting vaccinated for ideological reasons, many others had more practical concerns.
"If you have seven kids, and you're living in an apartment in Brooklyn with no car, you're going to have very little motivation to head out and get a vaccine," she said.
Fine Feld and Dr. Maureen Nemetski, MD, PhD, a pediatric emergency medicine physician, decided to create a vaccine hotline that people could call and receive a confidential, free, in-home MMR vaccine by one of JOWMA's doctors. With the help of Dr. Jane Zucker, MD, assistant commissioner at NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the organization was able to obtain vaccines from the DOH.
"There is a lot of mistrust of medical authorities in some communities, and we thought that being frum medical professionals, combined with providing a completely free service, would encourage people to get vaccinated," said Fine Feld.
JOWMA members noticed that the vaccine hotline also became a place where thousands were calling to ask questions about the safety of the vaccine.
"We realized that we had a whole population of people that don't utilize TV or the Internet to get information, and they call different hotlines to get that information," said Fine Feld.
Dr. Bat-Sheva Maslow receiving her second dose of the Moderna Covid vaccine. JOWMA members have made it a point to share photographs of themselves receiving Covid vaccinations to encourage the community.
Thus, instead of only being a place to call to request the free vaccine service, the JOWMA vaccine hotline was transformed into a way of communicating measles vaccine information and updates.
In the current epidemic, the hotline functions similarly, providing information about Covid-19, the vaccine, and various other preventative health issues. Thus far it has received 40,000 calls. The information in the hotline is updated weekly and is linked to JOWMA's weekly podcast led by Dr. Alissa Minkin, MD, a pediatric specialist at Beach Pediatrics.
When Covid-19 hit, JOWMA utilized many of their already existing educational methods, such as webinars, the hotline, and podcasts, to collaborate with other medical professionals and discuss topics related to the vaccine and Covid-19. JOWMA also created a bi-monthly live-stream town hall series called "Covid-19 Vaccine & You" that featured medical professionals such as Dr. Naor Bar Zev, a pediatric infectious diseases physician and statistical epidemiologist, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, discussing topics such as the process of vaccine development, its importance, and safety of the vaccines.
Dr. Sarah Becker, chair of JOWMA's Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force, said the town halls were created in response to people feeling that so much Covid-19 and vaccine information "is thrown at them at once. The town halls allow people to feel heard in this process by submitting their questions and having them answered and creating more of a discussion feel."
JOWMA also created mikvah guidelines that provided information about how to attend the mikvah in the safest way possible.
"We felt that, as frum female medical professionals, we have both the experiential and medical understanding of the mikvah in a way that a secular health organization does not," said Fine Feld.
JOWMA's town hall series also includes a live-stream specifically for kallah teachers, doulas, and mikvah attendants that provides information about answering questions that may arise when speaking with kallahs, mothers or mikvah attendees.
"These are people that are naturally going to receive questions about the vaccine relating to pregnancy, fertility, and overall safety, and we wanted to provide them with the necessary information to feel confident in answering questions," said Fine Feld. The town hall series also featured a live-stream for medical professionals about how to talk to their patients about the vaccine and offered print materials such as brochures that focused on dispelling the myths of the Covid-19 vaccine. Additionally, as many members of JOWMA are on their children's schools' medical advisory boards, JOWMA put out back-to-school guidelines that featured up-to-date Covid-19 information and answered common questions.
Although a recent article on Emes News by Rabbi Reuvein Schwartz stated that JOWMA has been "issuing halachic rulings about vaccines… and inhibiting mikvah usage, without having a single Rabbi on their board," Dr. Becker reiterated that JOWMA's goal "was never to provide commentary or information from a halachic perspective. We have only provided information on topics that are near and dear to our communities, from strictly a medical perspective. Our mikvah guidelines did not say whether you should go to the mikvah or not, they simply stated if you do, here's what you can do to be safe."
Noting that JOWMA sometimes gets feedback that they are too "pro-vaccine," Dr. Becker said, "Our job is to provide people with the most up-to-date evidence about the vaccine, vaccine development, and what is real information and what is fear-mongering and conspiracy theory…. When you are doing that, you're going to come out, on the most part, of getting the vaccine."
One of the best ways to spread vaccine awareness is to "lead by example," said Dr. Sarah Rosanel, MD, a board-certified internal medicine doctor currently completing her cardiology fellowship, and the head of JOWMA's Social Media and Communications committee. "We feature pictures of many JOWMA doctors and medical students getting the vaccine on our Instagram page, and some have paragraphs to explain why they are doing so."
Fully vaccinated members of the JOWMA board of directors and Covid-19 Task Force met in person on March 18 to discuss vaccine advocacy.
Fine Feld said that being part of the community has helped JOWMA know exactly what is important to community members and how to speak to them. "We can understand why the most common questions we've gotten about the vaccine have been about pregnancy and fertility; this is so greatly valued in our communities, and so we create events to address those concerns. We understand that historically there were times that Jews were misled by the government, that in the Holocaust Jews were experimented on by medical professionals. We understand where the hesitancies can arise from, but we also understand the science behind the vaccine and the importance of it."
JOWMA intentionally splits their advertising between digital (Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) and various community newspapers and magazines, Dr. Becker said, in order to reach different crowds.
Another strategy utilized is to partner with different community organizations in order to spread information. For example, one town hall was a partnership with Bikur Cholim of Lakewood, Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition (FJCC), and Oizrim Jewish Council of Monsey. Other events were partnered with organizations such as Orthodox Jewish Nurses Association (OJNA) and I Was Supposed to Have a Baby, an organization that utilizes Instagram to help spread support and education for those struggling with infertility.
"Working with trusted organizations from various communities allows us to spread information to a wide range of communities and reach people that we might not have otherwise," said Dr. Becker. Additionally, JOWMA's hotline was created, and continued, specifically for the purpose of being able to provide up-to-date information for those that do not utilize TV or Internet; the organization also sends mailings of educational pamphlets and information to this population. "We have members who are supporting their husbands in kollels, or are rebbetzins, and we have more modern Orthodox physicians, so we try to utilize modalities that can cater to various types of communities, but our information is geared towards all frum communities," said Fine Feld.
Dr. Rosanel noted that someone who was anti-vaccine once commented to the organization, "How much are you all getting paid to spread this [vaccine] information?" In response, she emphasized that JOWMA volunteers are busy medical specialists, doctors, medical students, mothers, and wives who volunteer their time for free because "we want to spread awareness of and the truth about what we see on the frontlines, in hospitals, offices, labs, etc., about Covid-19 and the vaccine. Since the beginning there have been misconceptions about Covid-19 and the vaccine that the reality in the labs and hospitals does not support."
Dr. Rosanel does not conceptualize differing opinions on the vaccine as "pro" or "anti" vaccine. "I look at it as having the medical background, understanding of drug development, and understanding of science, or not having that."
All the members of JOWMA are volunteers and spend hours of their free time creating events, responding to questions, and updating their social media pages.
"Time is what we have the least of, but we give it because we believe in the importance of sticking together and using all of our skills to give to the community," said Dr. Rosanel. After a recent event about cardiovascular health and preventative cardiology education, she received a personal message from an attendee saying that there was so much new information she learned from the webinar and can't wait to make changes to her life based on what was discussed in the webinar. "Feedback like this really inspires me to keep doing what I am doing."
JOWMA's next event, co-sponsored by Chazaq, is tentatively scheduled for July 11, and will discuss the vaccine, pregnancy, and fertility.
The organization's next frontier is to keep the conversation going about vaccinations. "We don't want people to fall into an availability bias – that the vaccine must be dangerous because that's what they are hearing about. People need to hear about vaccine safety and efficacy and be reminded the purpose of it: to close the door on Covid-19 and get back to normalcy," said Dr. Becker.
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Printed from: https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/features/once-again-jowma-battles-an-epidemic-the-womens-medical-organization-is-leading-efforts-to-educate-the-community-about-vaccines/2021/06/16/


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Amateur News
Golfers flock to Abu Dhabi
New figures show a 94.5% increase from 2011 in the number of overseas rounds played at Abu Dhabi's top trio of golf courses.
The Abu Dhabi Golf Club, currently playing host to the HSBC Golf Championship, is just one of the major resorts that has seen a boom in visiting golfers in the last year.
Other major courses in the emirate include the Saadiyat Beach Club, designed by golf legend Gary Player, and the Yas Links, the first course of its kind in the Middle East region.
The new figures were released by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) and they suggest that the surge in booking is partly down to 'Golf in Abu Dhabi' – an umbrella marketing, communications, product packaging and distribution platform implemented to increase the emirate's resonance in the golfing world.
The Events Manager at TCA Abu Dhabi said: "Our golf tourism sector is not simply growing. It is positively thriving. With Golf in Abu Dhabi streamlining the entire booking process, the destination's appeal to the international golf tourism sector has also been considerably strengthened by recent openings of luxury accommodation on the fringes of our diverse course offerings."
The pulling-power of the initiative will no doubt profit at the news that Matteo Manassero has signed a three-year extension to his global golf ambassador role.
Manassero was the first teenager in history to register three PGA European tour wins.
Whilst discussing his new role, he said: "Signing the extension was easy for me because Abu Dhabi has become my second home."
Abu Dhabi was declared 'Golf Destination of the Year Africa & Gulf States' in 2012 after beating off competition from nine international contenders.
For more information, or to place bookings, visit www.golfinabudhabi.com or email info@abudhabi.com