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uk666

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  1. Banksy Opens Bethlehem Hotel with 'Worst View in the World' An Israeli watchtower seen from one of the rooms of the Walled Off Hotel in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Anonymous British street artist Banksy has opened The Walled Off Hotel in Palestinian town Bethlehem that, according to its owner, has “the worst view of any hotel in the world.” The graffiti artist, who remain anonymous, created the guest house in Bethlehem. Famous for the birth of Christ, the city is also in the midst of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Banksy has put the hotel beside the infamous security barrier which was erected by Israel in 2002 during the second Intifada. This guesthouse, museum, gallery, and protest, that’s all rolled into one, sits right next to the controversial wall that divides Israel from Palestinian territories. Banksy hopes the lodge will attract Israeli tourists and ignite dialogue about what’s happening at the West Bank city. “Walls are hot right now, but I was into them long before [Donald] Trump made it cool,” said the artist. A Banksy wall mural in one of the guest rooms of the hotel In addition to Banksy artworks, creative pieces by Palestinian artists will also be featured inside the hotel. Banksy announced the lodge with a picture of one of its murals on Instagram–breaking the artist’s silence on the platform spanning nearly two years. "It's been pretty mental to be honest. It's been a crazy journey just (being) locked in here," laughed Dominique Petrin, a Montreal-based artist who was invited to do one of the rooms. She has spent the last month locked in her room, not allowed to see the rest of the hotel. Her room is the most conservatively decorated... to a point. "I made this room like a nice, lushy, colonial room," said Petrin, "but when you look at some details, you see something is really going wrong. You know when things are going so good, but at the same time it's apart?" Each room has its own unique style. One room is painted to look like the guest is surrounded by concrete walls, and yet somehow, the room still manages to feel comfortable. Another room feels like an army barracks -- furnished with bunk beds with foot lockers. The presidential suite, complete with its own mini-theater, study, and bar, also has a luxurious jacuzzi. But the water for the jacuzzi comes from what appears to be a water tank speckled with bullet holes.
  2. Man tried to rob a fish and chip shop with a banana THANK cod nobody was hurt when this masked robber burst into a fish and chip shop and threatened staff with a “gun” – that was actually a BANANA in a plastic bag. The hapless crook brandished the weapon at arm’s length in a gangster-style sideways pose as he tried to hold up counter staff at a chippie in Atherton, Greater Manchester UK. The masked bandit burst through the doors of the takeaway, screaming ‘open that f***ing till now’. He tried to fool staff into thinking he had a gun but one of the workers noticed the object inside his bag was quite bendy. CCTV then showed him fumbling in his pocket trying to pull out another weapon – but he again failed and made a quick exit without getting any cash.
  3. uk666

    A 'Word' Game

    News
  4. Why are humans symmetrical?
  5. Sony World Photography Awards A selection of the shortlisted photographs in the world’s largest photography competition. The shortlist for the Sony World Photography Awards competition has been released with the winner set to be announced on 20 April. We present a selection of potential winners, drawn from more than 220,000 entries, including this one by Ann Ric which captures Mount Fuji during Japan's Fujisan Marathon. Beach in SalentoVITO LEONE. A colourful picture is of beach goers in Salento, Italy, was captured from above Vito Leone. Ami Vitale photographs a captive-bred panda bear at Wolong Nature Reserve in China. Handlers wear panda suits to protect the cubs from becoming used to human contact. A baptismBENIAMINO PISATI In Tbilisi, Georgia, Beniamino Pisati depicts a crying infant being baptised according to Orthodox rites. Salvador, aged six, is a "torero," or trainee bullfighter. He sits on his bed, waiting to depart for the afternoon bullfight in Plaza Mexico. An outdoor swimming poolJULIEN CHATELIN Julien Chatelin's photograph is of an outdoor pool in Fuling, China, capturing the economic development of newly built cities. This photograph, by Yulia Grigoryants, is of nine-year-old Syuzanna. She sits in a makeshift shelter in Gyumri, Armenia. Ten days previously, her father took his life because of debt.
  6. Italian Marriages An Italian woman married an Italian man. The Italian tradition for newlyweds is to sleep at your mother's house on your wedding night and remain a virgin until you are married. After the wedding, the newlyweds went back to her mother's house. The man went up stairs and the woman stayed to talk to her mom. She said, "I don't want to go up there." Her mom said, "He's a good man. Go upstairs and he'll treat you well." When she got upstairs, the man took off his shirt. She ran back downstairs and said, "Mamma! Mamma! He has a hairy chest!" Her mom said, "All good men have hairy chests. Go upstairs and he will treat you well." When she got upstairs, he took off his pants. She ran back downstairs and said, "Mamma! Mamma! He has hairy legs!" Her mom said, "All good men have hairy legs. Go upstairs and he will treat you well." When she got upstairs he took off his socks. She noticed that half his foot was missing. She ran downstairs and said, "Mamma! Mamma! He has a foot and a half!" Her mom said, "Stay here! This is job for Mamma!"
  7. A man forgets his anniversary Bob woke up one morning to find his wife waiting for him in the kitchen, looking unusually angry. “What’s wrong dear?” “Do you know what yesterday was?” At that moment Bob realised that yesterday was his anniversary with his wife. “Oh honey, I’m sorry how could I forget?” “Well, it doesn’t matter. I want something that can go 0-90 in less than 60 seconds in the front yard tomorrow.” The next morning, Bob’s wife woke up and couldn’t find Bob. So she went out in the front yard. Greeting her was neither a car nor Bob, it was a small cardboard box. Perplexed, she took the box inside the house and opened it. Inside was a bathroom scale. Bob has not been seen since....
  8. It’s a cold one A man was driving down the road with twenty penguins in the back seat. The police stop him and say that he can’t drive around with the penguins in the car and should take them to the zoo. The man agrees and drives off. The next day the same man is driving down the road with twenty penguins in the back and again. He is stopped by the same police officer who says, “Hey! I thought I told you to take those to the zoo.” The man replies I did. Today I’m taking them to the movies....
  9. The master and the student A martial arts master was deep in meditation when his young pupil storms into the room frustrated with another loss. “Master, why does my ability not improve? I’m always defeated.” he sighed.And the master, pensive and forever patient, answers: “My dear pupil, have you seen the gulls flying by the setting sun, and their wings seeming like flames?” The student, ready to gain more knowledge responded, “Yes, my master, I have.” The master continued,”And a waterfall, spilling strongly over the stones without taking anything out of its proper place?” “Yes, my master, I have witnessed it.” the student replied. “And the moon… when it touches the calm water to reflect all its enormous beauty?” asked the master. The student nodded, “Yes, my master, I have also seen this marvellous phenomenon.” The master sighed, “That is the problem. You keep watching all this crap instead of training.”
  10. Women who know their place…. A point of view. Barbara Walters, of 20/20 TV series , did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan , several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands. She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women are happy to maintain the old custom. Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, ‘Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?’ The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said, ‘Land Mines.’
  11. Who invented the teddy bear? Bear formerly owned by Kermit Roosevelt (Son of Theodore Roosevelt), thought to be made by Michtom, early 1900's; Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, 2012 One of the world’s most beloved toys was named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, after he refused to shoot a bear during a Mississippi hunting trip in November 1902. During the trip, guides clubbed a bear and tied it to a tree then invited the president to shoot it; instead, Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman and hunter, declined, saying it would be unsportsmanlike to kill a defenseless animal that way. A 1902 political cartoon in The Washington Post spawned the teddy bear name. The incident generated national attention and was depicted in a popular political cartoon by Clifford Berryman. (According to some sources, the newspaper cartoon, titled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi,” was a reference not just to Roosevelt’s refusal to shoot the bruin but also to his handling of a boundary dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana; other sources have suggested the cartoon was a comment on the president’s progressive stance on race relations.) Inspired by the cartoon, shopkeeper Morris Michtom and his wife Rose made a stuffed fabric bear in honor of America’s 26th commander-in-chief and displayed it with a sign, “Teddy’s bear,” in their store window, where it attracted interest from customers. After reportedly writing to the president and getting permission to use his name for their creation, the Michtoms went on to start a successful company that manufactured teddy bears and other toys. Meanwhile, around the same time the Michtoms developed their bear, a German company founded in 1880 by seamstress Margarete Steiff to produce soft toy animals began making a plush bruin of its own. Designed in 1902 by Steiff’s nephew Richard, who modeled it after real-life bears he’d sketched at the zoo, the mohair bear with jointed limbs debuted at a German toy fair in 1903. A buyer for a U.S. toy company placed a large order for the stuffed creatures, and Steiff bears (which in 1906 officially became known as teddy bears) quickly became popular and helped drive an international teddy bear craze. Other companies soon began turning out teddy bears of their own. More than a century later, Steiff continues to make stuffed toy bears, and its vintage teddy bears are prized by collectors, commanding steep prices at auctions.
  12. uk666

    A 'Word' Game

    Disaster
  13. 10 US Presidential Assassination Attempts That Failed In the history of the United States, there have been a lot of presidential assassination attempts. Since John F. Kennedy, almost every president has been threatened with assassinations, except for LBJ. While most presidential assassination attempts weren’t actually carried out, there were still over 20 attempts that were. That’s quite a few considering we’re only on our 44th President. Of the 22 attempts, we lost Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and JFK. But aside from the successful plots, there were also some really close calls. Here are 9 presidents we almost lost: PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson became the first victim of presidential assassination attempts. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached the President on the Capitol steps. The shot was fired as Jackson was leaving a funeral at the Capitol building. Luckily for Jackson, he had misfired. A furious Stonewall Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing him several times with his cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence drew a second pistol but again misfired. He was then dragged away by the President’s aides. Lawrence was later convicted as mentally unstable and spent the rest of his life in an asylum. Historians later found that the odds of both guns misfiring were 1 in 125,000. Lucky Jackson. PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN We all know that President Lincoln died at the hands of John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in 1865. But before he actually died, there were two other attempts to take his life. In February 1861, there was a conspiracy to assassinate the President on his way to the inauguration. Three years later, as Lincoln was riding alone from the White House to Soldiers’ Home, a rifle shot passed through his hat, barely missing his head. PRESIDENT TEDDY ROOSEVELT Three years after Teddy Roosevelt left office, he decided to run again as a member of the Progressive Party. During that time, a New Yorker by the name of John F. Schrankwas said to have been stalking Roosevelt for weeks. Right before a major campaign speech in Milwaukee, the saloon-keeper shot Roosevelt with a .38 caliber revolver. The bullet hit Roosevelt square in the chest. But lucky for Roosevelt, the 50-page notes and metal glasses case in his pockets slowed the bullet and saved his life. Schrank was immediately disarmed and captured. Unfazed by the shooting, Roosevelt waved to the crowd and did his speech with the bullet still lodged in his chest. When he eventually went to the hospital, doctors determined it was too risky to remove the bullet, so it stayed in Roosevelt’s body for the rest of his life. PRESIDENT GERALD FORD President Gerald R. Ford survives two attempt on his life; both of the attempts took place in California within three weeks of one another and both assailants were women First assassination attempt The assailants, a petite, red haired, freckle-faced young woman named Lynette Fromme, approached the president while he was walking near the California Capitol and raised a .45 caliber handgun toward him. Before she was able to fire off a shot, Secret Service agents tackled her and wrestled her to the ground. Lynette Fromme, nicknamed “Squeaky,” was a member of the notorious Charles Manson family, a group of drug-addled groupies who followed cult leader Manson. Manson and other members of his “family” were convicted and sentenced to prison for murdering former actor Sharon Tate and others in 1969. Subsequently, Fromme and other female members of the cult started an order of “nuns” within a new group called the International People’s Court of Retribution. This group terrorized corporate executives who headed environmentally destructive businesses. Fromme herself was still so enamored of Manson that she devised the plot to kill President Ford in order to win Manson’s approval. She was release on parole on August 14, 2009, after serving nearly 34 years. Second assassination attempt Seventeen days later, another woman, Sarah Jane Moore, a mentally unstable accountant, tried to assassinate Ford while he was in San Francisco. Her attempt was thwarted by a bystander who instinctively grabbed Moore’s arm when she raised the gun. Although she fired one shot, it did not find its target. Ford’s second would-be assassin, Moore, was imprisoned in the same higher-security penitentiary as the first. Sara Jane Moore was given a life sentence for the attempted assassination and was released from prison on December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years. PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Franklin D. Roosevelt hadn’t even been sworn into office yet when he was a victim of an assassination attempt. Three weeks before his inauguration, FDR was giving a speech in Miami’s Bayfront Park when a man named Giuseppe Zangara shouted, “Too many people are starving!” before firing at the President. Zangara opened fire with six rounds – five people were hit. As it turns out, President Roosevelt wasn’t one of them. But Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was beside the President, was hit with a fatal wound in the stomach. Several men tackled Zangara, but the President intervened to prevent him from being beaten to death. Zangara was charged with murder and died on the electric chair. The President, on the other hand, boosted his public image as a strong leader thanks to his calm composure during the whole event. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN Just 69 days into his presidency, Ronald Reagan became a victim of the many presidential assassination attempts. After speaking at the Washington Hilton in D.C., Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr, who later said he shot the President in hopes of impressing actress Jodie Foster. The photo above was taken just moments after Hinckley opened fire with his revolver. The first bullet hit his White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back. The final bullet ricocheted off the limo and hit the President under his left arm, grazing his rib and lodged in his lung. It stopped an inch from his heart. After a month at George Washington University Hospital, Reagan returned to the Oval and became the first serving U.S. President to survive being shot in an assassination attempt. PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH In April of 1993, George H.W. Bush was visiting Kuwait University. The former president had just passed the baton to President-elect Bill Clinton when his assassination attempt occurred. A total of 14 men believed to be working for Saddam Hussein smuggled car bombs into Kuwait to kill George H.W. But the plot was foiled when Kuwaiti officials found the bomb and and arrested the suspects. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON President Bill Clinton was the target for many presidential assassination attempts. In 1994, a retired military officer and freelance writer plotted to kill President Clinton while he was out jogging. No shots were fired but Barbour was sentenced to five years in prison for scheming. Later in the same year, a drunken truck driver drove onto the White House lawn with intentions of crashing into Clinton. Instead, he hit a tree and died on site. The President and his family were not home at the time. A month later, a man fired 30 rounds with a semi-automatic rifle through the White House fence. Three tourists tackled him before anyone was injured and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Then in 1996, while President Clinton was in Manila, another attack was attempted. Clinton’s motorcade was rerouted right as it was about to go over a bridge as the Secret Service director was tipped off about a bomb. The bomb was later recovered from under the bridge and after much investigation, it was determined that it was plotted by a then-unknown terrorist named Osama bin Laden. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH Like his father, George W. Bush was also a target of presidential assassination attempts. In 2005, while Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, a man in the crowd threw a live grenade. The explosive hit an audience member and landed just 60 feet from the President. While the grenade was live, it did not explode because it was so tightly wrapped in a red scarf. The strangest part about the story is that the grenade was recovered by Georgian military but no one from the U.S. or the Secret Service knew about this attack until long after the President had returned to American soil. Months after the attempt, a man by the name of Vladimir Arutyunian confessed to the crime and was given a life sentence.
  14. uk666

    Darts Trivia

    Darts Trivia The first man to sell matched sets of brass darts was a Hungarian salesman of boiler linings named Frank Lowy. He went on to found Unicorn darts, still the largest darts manufacturers in the world. In November of 1989, Tony Jones recorded 28 perfect 180 scores in just one hour and 25 minutes for a charity event in Manchester, England. An impressive 7-man superstar line up consisting of Bob Anderson, Eric Bristow, John Lowe, Chris Johns, Martin Phillips, Alan Warriner, and Ritchie Gardner established a 15-minute fast-scoring mark of 8,806 points in a charity throw at the 1988 British Professional Championships. Big Cliff Lazarenko fired his first 9-dart perfect 501 game at an exhibition at the Aberlynon Leisure Centre. Using 25-gram titanium tungsten darts, he threw two 180s and a T20, T19, D12 for the 141 out in the last match of the night. Paul Lim of San Bernadino, Calif. threw a perfect 9-dart 501 leg at the 1990 Embassy World Championships. Because he did it before the TV cameras he received £52,000 ($88,000 US) for his remarkable achievement. Some dart players in England think throwing darts can get boring, so they take some six inch nails and use them instead. Joe Hitchcock used to love to beat "the champs" in this fashion. One of his favorite tricks was to "nail" a button from between someone's outstretched fingers. The late Jim Pike, a darts legend in England before most of you even threw one, was such a marksman that he could shoot a cigarette from someone's mouth with a dart - AND STICK IT IN ANY DOUBLE. The average speed of a dart hitting a board is around 64kph (40mph). London, 1937. The late and great Jim Pike went around the board on doubles, retrieving his own darts, in the time of 3 minutes 30 seconds. He did this shooting from the old distance of 9 feet. Can you score more than 180 with 3 darts? - Turn 16 to the top of the board and it becomes 91. Three triples give you 819. At an exhibition match at the Gipsy Stadium, in England, in July 1977, Muhammed Ali faced former Welsh champ Alan Evans. With Evans scoring only on triples, Ali won hitting a bullseye on the way out and immediately proclaimed himself darts champion of the world. On February 21st., 1989, at Buckingham Palace, London, Eric Bristow became the first dart player to receive the coveted Member of the British Empire award (M.B.E.). Mr. Bristow admitted he was nervous meeting the queen, saying, "It was more nerve-racking than any TV final." This gives him the right to have the letters M.B.E. present after his name. In June of 1978, All-World John Lowe captured a 1001 leg in 22 darts: 140-180-140-100-140-140-125-D18. John averaged 137 per throw or a grand 45.6 per dart en-route to this memorable game. Pat Irwin of the Mitre hotel, playing in a double start/double finish 501 match, hit a 170 in (Dbull-60-60) and a 170 out (60-60-Dbull) in the same leg, in April of 1987. Probably the most notable individual effort occurred on October 13, 1984 in the quarter-finals of the MFI World Matchplay Championships. The match featured British stars John Lowe and Keith Deller with Lowe hitting the first televised nine-dart perfect 501 game in the history of the sport. For the record he went: 180-180-141 and collected (eventually) a cheque for 102,000 pounds for his efforts. (Ironically, due to complex tax laws, Lowe could not pocket a penny from the jackpot until two years later, as the currency sat in a British bank waiting for final approval.) Dartboards are made from compressed biscuits of African sisal. The maximum allowable weight and length for a dart is 12 inches and 50 grams. In the British Dart Organization (BDO), Indian Sikhs are exempt from the rule forbidding headgear. In 1896, Brian Gamlin, a British carpenter, arranged the numbers on the dartboard as we see them still today. Eric Bristow got his nickname "The Crafty Cockney" not from his accent, as some may think, but from a T-shirt he picked up in a California darts pub.
  15. Abandoned military vehicles Near Paderborn, Germany
  16. Cruise Ship Magician A magician worked on a cruise ship. The audience was different each week so the magician did the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: The captain’s parrot saw the shows each week and began to understand how the magician did every trick. Once he understood, he started shouting in the middle of the show, “Look, it’s not the same hat! “or, “Look, he’s hiding the flowers under the table!” or “Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?” The magician was furious but couldn’t do anything. It was, after all, the captain’s parrot. Then one stormy night on the Pacific, the ship unfortunately sank, drowning almost all who were on board. The magician luckily found himself on a piece of wood floating in the middle of the sea, as fate would have it … with the parrot. They stared at each other with hatred, but did not utter a word. This went on for a day.. and then 2 days … and then 3 days… Finally on the 4th day, the parrot couldn’t hold back any longer and said, “OK, I give up. Where’s the damn ship....
  17. uk666

    A 'Word' Game

    Evasion
  18. Horrifying footage of car on wrong side of road slamming into horses The terrifying collision - which left one of the two riders with injuries. This is the heart-stopping moment a car on the wrong side of the road ploughed into two horses and sent its riders flying into the air. The horrifying footage was captured in Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK on Friday as the animals were trotting along a winding country road. An oncoming blue car suddenly hurtles around the bend and veers onto the opposite lane and into the path of the riders. It then slams into the horses and causes one of them to fly into a terrifying 360 degree turn and fall to the ground. The impact also sent both riders flying into the air, before one manages to get back on their feet. But the other rider stays on the ground shocked and bruised, before being taken to hospital with minor injuries. Cambridge News, Mirror uk.
  19. Dying author writes dating profile for husband An author dying of ovarian cancer has written a dating profile of her husband so he can find "another love story". Amy Krouse Rosenthal lists his best qualities and says she hopes "the right person reads this [and] finds Jason". "I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony," she writes in the New York Times. "But I'm going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of co-existing in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days." She invites her readers to meet Jason, saying: "He is an easy man to fall in love with. I did it in one day." Then, she begins a sort of dating profile for her husband: "I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony, but I’m going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of coexisting in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days." She goes on to explain his appearance - 5ft 10, weighing 160 pounds with salt-and-pepper hair and hazel eyes - and lists his characteristics. We learn, from her beautiful writing, that Jason is a sharp dresser, uncannily handy, a great cook, a dreamy travel companion, a painter and loves live music. "He is an absolutely wonderful father," Amy writes. "Ask anyone. See that guy on the corner? Go ahead and ask him; he will tell you. Jason is compassionate — and he can flip a pancake. Amy is known for writing books for children, as well as memoirs about her own family and life. She and Jason have been together for almost three decades and have grown-up children. Towards the end of her essay, called You May Want to Marry My Husband, Amy writes: "I am wrapping this up on Valentine's Day, and the most genuine, non-vase-oriented gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins. "I'll leave this intentional empty space below as a way of giving you two the fresh start you deserve." There then follows a blank white space. She ends: "With all my love, Amy." bbc
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