#most expensive hotel in the world 2018

[blueisneat]

Hyper-capitalist advertising, religion, and hope in Cyberpunk 2077

This post contains spoilers

Cyberpunk 2077 is unlike its titular genre in quite a few ways. Whereas cyberpunk and other techno-dystopian media have crafted worlds and cities showcasing the influence of technology and the horrors of over-dependence, it hasn’t ever been quite as apparent just how dreadful these cityscapes are until you enter the first person view. While pioneering media such as the William Gibson novel, Neuromancer and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner have given hints as to the changes technology will have on societal life through Chiba City and Los Angeles, respectively, none have quite captured the feeling like Night City.

By now, the idea of a poverty-stricken and hyper-capitalist city is nothing new. The advertisement laden streets portrayed in Blade Runner set the artistic style at the very beginning, a style which has stayed relatively constant in the over forty years since. A through line in Cyberpunk media is comparing the natural to the manmade, take the opening line of Neuromancer, for example, which reads: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” At face value, the sky in Chiba City is overcast. It’s dreary and gray. But the best metaphor our narrator can muster is that of a television receiver unable to make a proper connection. However, the comparison is accurate. Much like the futuristic city streets of Japan and the coincidentally named slum Night City, the static moves every which way, putting the stillness of the gray sky in contrast with the hustle below.

While not traditionally cyberpunk per se, Ernest Cline’s 2011 techno-dystopian novel Ready Player One is an accessible jumping off point that showcases the abandonment of reality in favor of the virtual. In the 2018 filmatic adaptation, the streets are riddled with zombified people entranced in their virtual reality headsets. This trope also stems from Neuromancer, as the introductory chapter continues: “A year here and he still dreamed of Cyberspace, hope fading nightly. All the speed he took, all the turns he’d taken and the corners he’d cut in Night City, and still he’d see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void… The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. But the dreams came on in the Japanese night like livewire voodoo, and he’d cry for it, cry in his sleep, and wake alone in the dark, curled in his capsule in some coffin hotel, his hands clawed into the bedslab, temperfoam bunched between his fingers, trying to reach the console that wasn’t there.” Within the modern context of Cyberpunk 2077, examples of this are far less noticeable in the game, but marketing material features instances of children haphazardly playing around in virtual reality headsets. Furthermore, some of the most popular Night City hangout spots are braindance clubs. Advertisements for new experiences adorn just about every city surface in Night City, and yet, nearly every single one is for something far too expensive for the average person, such as a trip to the illustrious crystal palace, are illusionary braindance, or sexually indulgent.

Advertisements in CD Projekt Red’s Night City are brutal, cruel, and instead of being tailored to common experiences or a certain demographic, the marketers of 2077 aim to satisfy the deepest, darkest desires of a city-slicker or exploit those in crisis. A simple advertisement for a productivity-boosting supplement which claims to “save your corporate career” showcases a man crying as he holds a pistol in his mouth, finger ready to pull the trigger. Whereas the contemporary caffeine supplements of today could claim to keep you more alert or increase focus, the advertisements in Night City depict the product as an alternative to suicide, after all, in the eyes of the corporate-ruled dystopia, you’re worthless if you’re not contributing to profit.

Prior to the launch in December of 2020, controversy arose surrounding a fictitious advertisement for a flavored energy drink entitled ChroManticore. The ad in question prominently features a transgender woman with a noticeable pelvic bulge alongside the text “Mix It Up!”. CD Projekt Red,  who have been accused of transphobic marketing material in the past, were then accused of fetishizing transgender people or using their inclusion as a punchline. However, an art director of Cyberpunk 2077 would later go on to clarify things in a 2019 Polygon interview, stating “Personally, for me, this woman is sexy. I like how this person looks. However, this model is used- their beautiful body is used- for corporate reasons. They are displayed there as just a thing, and that’s the terrible part of it. In 2077, especially with how much body modifications are available, I think people just mix and match however they want, however they feel.”

While it is not my place to speak on the issue, this advertisement is just another example of how the world of Cyberpunk 2077 dehumanizes just about everyone. Sexuality is a part of the advertisements displayed in Night City. Whether that be about something as mundane as an energy drink, or as boisterous as the latest extreme braindance, they are advertised in just about the same way. Shock value is one of the easiest ways to encourage discussion. That’s why so many of the best real marketing strategies go against the grain, and that’s why some of the most shocking or challenging media are often the most memorable. They set themselves apart from the rest not by doing something inherently innovative, but by doing something out of the ordinary.

While these two aren’t the only examples of shock marketing within Night City, they are by far the most memorable. While others are explicitly sexual or violent, such as the advertisements depicting someone without skin on their face, there is one that deserved an entire questline of its own. Throughout the game, you will encounter an ad for a braindance entitled “The Passion” and about halfway through Act II, a mysterious figure by the name of Bill Jablonsky will give you a call. Should you play your cards right, you’ll eventually be entangled in the production of this braindance, in which  an execution is set to be performed not through conventional means, but as a crucifixion in the hopes of horrifying people back into religion. The criminal set to be executed is born-again Christian Joshua Stephenson, who was arrested in connection to an armed robbery turned murder which resulted in the death of Caroline Jablonsky and Ruben El-Ahmar. During his time in prison, he became extremely religious in the pursuit of forgiveness. Regardless of his quest for penance, he was still on death row, and set to be executed. That was before his story was picked up by Fourth Wall Studios, who wanted to turn him from a death row inmate to a martyr. 

As the Sinnerman questline evolves before you, several biblical parallels and metaphors unfold, with Joshua playing a modern and dystopian interpretation of what he views himself as: a messianic figure. Despite this, the braindance producer who follows him around makes it clear that she is exploiting him. Joshua remains naive and hopes to genuinely spread the word of his lord through this crucifixion. Rachel, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with it: “Ugh! All this talk about grace and salvation and transformation! I could puke. Take it from a BD producer, religion’s an elaborate lie. All of ‘em.”

Beyond the controversial questline’s surface-level themes of religion in dystopia alongside the rest of the game’s general existentialism, there lies a crucial moment in furthering the understanding of personal value in Night City. When the crucifixion ultimately occurs, Joshua is genuinely convinced of his martyrdom with pure intentions, whereas those he has hurt refuse to accept his cries for forgiveness, and the production company is exclusively using him to stir controversy and increase their bottom line. To these producers, there is a clear separation between the person represented, the agenda they’re furthering, and the potential financial gain.

Much like the suicidal corporate employee, the transgender woman from ChroManticore, or the murderer turned evangelical Joshua Stephenson- the very moment you enter Night City, you are stripped of your humanity with little to separate you from the rest of the bustling city crowds. This is the through-line of Cyberpunk 2077. From the very first mainline gig when Dex asks you the infamous question: “Quiet life or blaze o’ glory?” to the various ending scenes, it is clear that Night City treats everyone identically and indiscriminately, usually for the worse. After all, there’s a reason why all the legends in Night City are dead.

While Night City still follows a shallow societal structure, the city operates on a ‘survival of the fittest’ dogma where the only measure of strength is either violence or financial prowess. Night City is a world with privatized emergency medical care, where you’ll be left on a street corner to die if you’re TraumaTeam plan won’t cover your injuries, a city where your taxi package includes the disposal of passenger corpses, a city that will beat you down to your very core. A city that will never stop its exploitation, a city where the corporations in charge poison your water without a second thought, or flood your entire childhood neighborhood in pursuit of profit. And yet, everybody wants to live there.

At its core, Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about life, hope, love, and perseverance. The relationships you build over the course of the game are impactful not just because of the incredible writing and line delivery, but because of the humanity beneath the cybernetic enhancement. Whether you resonate with Judy’s endless quest to feel welcome, Jackie’s pursuit of the stars, or Johnny’s stubborn insistence on righting his wrongs, there is something there to latch onto.

I’m used to that feeling of numbness upon the credits of a game, a story you’ve loved for dozens or hundreds of hours coming to a close, knowing that it's the last time you’ll see these characters you’ve grown to feel for. It’s got a bittersweet feeling to all of it. However, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of few games where no matter how many playthroughs I’ve managed, how many different endings I’ve seen in the pursuit of 100% achievement completion, each and every time those credits roll, I’m left with one feeling: an uneasy numbness.

There is an ending that stuck out to me far more than the others. It’s the easiest to get, and yet, one that’s just as easily brushed aside. When confronted with the choice on the roof of the esoterica, you are given a path of least resistance. You can end the cycle of bloodshed, spare the Aldecaldos, spare Judy or River or Kerry or whoever else is suffering, and refuse to side with Arasaka, simply by picking up your gun and pulling the trigger. To some, it's seen as cowardice, quite literally throwing away everything worked for up until this point, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t consider the option at least a little bit myself.

In a way, there are no happy endings for anyone in Night City. Each path you take spills blood. In the case of Temperance, Johnny loses the one thing he was fighting for, his sense of connection to his past life in Rogue Amendiares. For the Devil, Johnny will lose his trust in V. For the Star, the Aldecaldos will never be truly happy due to the lives lost along the way alongside your imminent death. And for the Sun, you’re left to rot in the Crystal Palace craving a cure you’ll never get.

I wrote everything that you've read so far almost a year ago, and since then, it's been sitting in a lonely Google Doc for nobody to see. Despite wanting to do something with the writing, I always felt that it felt more like a string of observations without a very concise throughline, just sharing opinions and observations instead of saying anything profound which is exactly what I try to avoid when I do any sort of analysis. However, a simple thought crossed my mind and finally put it all together.

To me, Cyberpunk 2077 is not just a game, but an incredible collection of slice-of-life portraits of hope in a city that has it out for everyone. It's incredibly dark and dystopian, while simultaneously full of heart. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it has the best portrayal of how perserverence is the largest part of the human condition. From small stories regarding odd forms of repentance, to finding peace with yourself when faced with the biggest of obstacles, each time I revisit Night City, I find something else to love.

[alexturne]

Arctic Monkeys’ The Car album review — a stylish, plush affair (Financial Times review)

The band settle into their new luxurious style in a superior follow-up to ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’

Ludovic Hunter-Tilney OCTOBER 18 2022

When Arctic Monkeys’ last album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino came out in 2018, graffiti appeared in their former home city Sheffield depicting a coffin, with a message reading: “Hey Alex . . . How’s California?” It was directed at the band’s frontman Alex Turner, an émigré to Los Angeles. The band’s new musical direction was a far cry from their roots too. Instead of clattering guitars, South Yorkshire slang and sharply drawn observations about Topshop princesses and lads squaring up in the taxi queue, Turner and his bandmates had chosen to reinvent themselves as space-age lounge musicians in a concept album themed around a luxury hotel. Of such dreams are rock stars’ follies made.

For their seventh album The Car, the quartet have doubled down on the stylistic swerve that they made on Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. The music sounds expensive, a plush affair with billowing strings, richly-layered production and the gilded shimmer of cymbals. Turner sighs and croons his vocals where once he drawled and sneered. The lyrics depict a decadent world of marble staircases, moated buildings, the popping of champagne corks and aeroplane descents over the French Riviera. But if the heart sinks at the prospect of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino II, then it rises at the discovery that this time the Arctic Monkeys have managed to carry off the style.

“There’d Better Be a Mirrorball” ushers us into the album with a velvety ballad in which Turner marks the passing of a relationship that has spun off its axis with aching vocals and elegant phrases (“Yesterday’s still leaking through the roof”). “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” dramatises lyrics about feeling out of place with funk guitar and psychedelic orchestrations, music that both struts and swoons. Like the rest of the album, it has been produced by longtime collaborator James Ford.

“Sculptures of Anything Goes” has a brooding electronic beat and breathy, high vocals with cryptic verses about fakeness and truth, a regular theme in Turner’s writing. “Body Paint” is addressed to “a master of deception and subterfuge”, an ex-lover (it seems) who provokes the singer to his most agitated performance on the record. He is accompanied by a slow-burning guitar solo from Jamie Cook that evokes the spirit of Queens of the Stone Age, an important musical touchstone for the band.

The album’s title track is a luxuriant 1970s orchestral rocker with a dreamlike air of suspension. “Big Ideas” is another sumptuously arranged number in which Turner recounts a comic tale of convening an orchestra to record a song, only to forget how it goes. Themes of disillusion and exhaustion recur throughout this lavishly appointed album — but unlike its predecessor, the results do not exhaust or disappoint.

★★★★☆

[mariacallous]

On Sept. 18, a bus carrying 47 people to a COVID-19 quarantine facility crashed in China’s Guizhou province, killing 27 people and severely injuring many more. The accident caused another round of heated—if brief—online discussion over China’s zero-COVID policies. One of the most popular comments, which went spectacularly viral before being removed by censors, asked: “What makes you think you wouldn’t be on this bus?”

For a generation of young Chinese whose lives have been reshaped by the zero-COVID policy, the disease often seems less of a threat than the government. “We might not die from covid-19, but we might die from covid-19 restrictions,” posted one acquaintance of mine, who had volunteered in Wuhan, China, at the start of the pandemic.

Many young people have accepted that COVID-19 restrictions will be part of their lives for the foreseeable future. A Shanghai resident in his early 30s described his life as “unimaginable.” He told Foreign Policy that right now, people entering public venues or taking public transportation need to show a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours and for venues like hotels and certain hospitals, a negative test taken within 48 hours is necessary. He now takes a COVID-19 test after lunch every other day, and queuing for it can take hours. Before he travels, even nearby, he checks the COVID-19 restrictions on the route.

“It’s almost impossible for most ordinary people to live even an average life under all the strict rules and regulations,” said Xu, a woman in her 20s who asked that only her last name be used. “It takes extraordinary amounts of effort to be ordinary.” She works for a once fast-growing sector, e-commerce, where China has been the largest market in the world since 2013.

But that growth ran straight into the pandemic wall. In April, when FP spoke with Xu, total retail sales of consumer goods showed a year-on-year decrease of 11.1 percent.

Sales at Xu’s firm dropped around 50 percent this year compared to the first half of 2021. Even among the orders placed, only half of them could be delivered smoothly due to logistic and supply chain issues caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. That cut sharply into her commissions even as living expenses in Shenzhen, where she lives, rose dramatically as COVID-19 restrictions left shelves empty and trucks stuck in transit. She’s been struggling to make ends meet and is actively considering leaving Shenzhen and returning to her small hometown.

Xu is one of many young Chinese who are struggling to find a job where they can support themselves.

According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate for Chinese between ages 16 to 24 in July was 19.9 percent, the highest since unemployment data was first made available by age group in 2018. Even before the pandemic, there were fears that China was producing too many graduates: In 2022, there will be a record-high 10.76 million college graduates, an increase of 1.67 million graduates year-on-year. As of the end of May, only 22 percent of male graduates and 10 percent of female graduates had signed an employment contract. (There is systematic discrimination against female workers in China, a problem predating COVID-19.)

The pandemic has also claimed plenty of firms: In the first half of 2022, around 460,000 Chinese companies announced bankruptcy. This is in line with China’s GDP growth: The economy grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter, the lowest rate of growth since the first quarter of 2020. And even those firms that survived the pandemic have become deeply risk averse and are avoiding expansion. Unfortunately for business, consumers are equally wary; when your city could be locked down at any moment, caution is the watchword all around.

Reports published by Zhaopin, one of the major recruitment sites, show college graduates this year have an expected monthly salary of 6,295 yuan (or roughly $870), a 6 percent decrease from 2021, and 55 percent of the graduates say they have lowered their expectations.

Even graduates from top colleges in China are having a tough time finding a job, in part because lots of them missed the spring recruitment season due to COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders and lockdowns. On May 13, Fudan University’s School of Management sent a letter pleading for help from alumni, hoping they could provide more jobs for the recent graduates. Young people who have already found jobs are facing risks of being laid off or seeing their salaries slashed.

Another result is a reluctance to have children—thanks not just to the economy but also to the lack of medical resources under zero-COVID. When Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a lockdown in December 2021, videos of pregnant women being denied necessary medical treatment went viral on the internet; some women had miscarriages as a consequence. Such tragedy happened in several Chinese cities due to strict COVID-19 control policies. China’s National Health Commission admitted that COVID-19 had contributed to the decline in the country’s marriage and birth rate.

The young generation of Chinese are reluctant to have children, as data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows. By the end of 2021, the annual number of new births was 10.62 million, with a natural growth rate of 0.34 percent, the lowest since 1949. Even those figures may be too high; many demographers believe the country is already losing people.

In May, a showing a young man telling a police officer “we are the last generation, thanks” went viral on China’s internet. The police officer responded by warning him that noncompliance with COVID-19 control and prevention policies “will influence your next three generations.” Even though the video quickly got censored—trending Weibo hashtags “last generation” and “we are the last generation, thanks” were removed—Chinese netizens are still using this phrase frequently to express their dissatisfaction toward the ruling government and their despair about the future.

Liu, a Peking University graduate student who asked to use only her last name, told Foreign Policy that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to have kids, but if she decided to have children, she wanted to make sure they had foreign residency so they had the option to leave China in the future.

She can see her own future draining away though. Before the pandemic, she would travel abroad for conferences or training, but today, the zero-COVID measures—combined with growing political nervousness about contact with foreigners—have made it impossible. More and more websites have been censored in the past few years, which makes it extremely difficult for her to conduct academic research. She is extremely concerned that the tightened censorship might affect her studies, especially after her Weibo account got blocked when she retweeted a scientific paper about the rationality of coexisting with the COVID-19 virus.

The desire to leave China has grown as the borders have closed. The Chinese government isn’t happy about this trend; on the Baidu search index, data related to keyword “immigration” is not provided. Netizens created a new term “run-ism,” meaning the intention to leave China and live somewhere else. Search terms related to “run” started to surge around early April, which was the time that Shanghai entered lockdown, and they peaked on May 12, when the “we are the last generation, thanks” video went viral. Searches for immigration have also significantly grown since February.

In many ways, this generation of young Chinese are more nationalist, thanks to compulsory patriotic education and strengthened censorship. But lately, this generation has started to realize that many benefits they take for granted—such as the convenience of online shopping and food delivery as well as the freedom of traveling abroad—could all be taken away by the government at any moment.

A senior reporter working for a state-affiliated media outlet in China told Foreign Policy that reports focusing on how terrible Western countries were seemed to get less and less attention. According to her, the strategy—using how terrible Western countries are to redirect netizens’ focus—worked well in the past few years, but it stopped working because “everyone is busy figuring their own life and work out.” When Chinese government officials posted about anti-U.S. content on Weibo during the Shanghai lockdown, for a while, many netizens used the hashtag “call me by your name” to make fun of these official and call on them to focus more on problems within China; this hashtag was later censored.

Politics are impossible to avoid. “I feel painful living in this kind of political environment,” said one Shanghai-based author who wanted to stay anonymous due to fear of retaliation. As a writer, she was more interested in history and literature than politics. “I am not interested in politics, and I don’t even watch related news, but I keep seeing tragedies happen around me.” She wanted to avoid discussing politics, but even discussing what happens in real life sometimes would be classified as “sensitive topics,” and that realization made her feel powerless.

Occasionally, anger breaks through, such as with the Oct. 13 protest against Xi and his COVID-19 policies in Beijing. But for the most part, young Chinese are frustrated and angry in the COVID-19-driven isolation of their own apartments.

[searchngo200]

NGO For Healthcare: How Can We Improve The Present Healthcare System in India?

The primary cause of the majority of the present issues in Indian healthcare is the government's meagre allocation of funds for this sector. Let us compare our current positions quickly with NGO For Healthcare:

In India, the amount per person spent on public health is Rs 1,815, which is less than the price of one consultation at one of the best private hospitals in the nation, or about the same as a supper at most hotels. It equals Rs 5 a day or Rs 150 a month. Compared to other low-income nations that spend a significant portion of their GDP on healthcare, India has one of the lowest public health spending rates in the world, at 2.1 percent of GDP. 

One factor driving people to the private healthcare industry in India is the country's poor public health spending. As to the National Health Estimates (2018-19), India comes in at number 66 out of 189 countries with regard to out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending.

According to several studies, these expenses cause millions of Indians to live in poverty each year. Let us examine the common issues that plague our current healthcare system now: 

1. Unbalanced Distribution of Health Facilities: India is one of the most popular countries for medical tourism, which suggests that some of our hospitals can offer top-notch care at comparatively lower costs. But other facilities are insufficiently staffed and do not have the latest medical equipment, enough medicine supplies, and might barely be able to provide an ambulance or a bed for a patient. For instance, only around 30% of hospitals, hospital beds, and physicians are found in rural India, but accounting for 75% of the country's overall population. Just consider how much more work this puts on the physicians and rural health institutions! 

2. Manpower Shortage: There is a dearth of medical personnel, including technicians, nurses, physicians, and other professionals. Two million fewer doctors and four million fewer nurses worked in India in 2015. It is well known that many gifted nurses leave their home countries in quest of greater financial opportunities. Our current pool of super experts is severely depleted; most work abroad or are centred in Tier 1 cities.

In a lot of hospitals, a lack of medical personnel and technicians exacerbates inadequate maintenance of equipment and restricted diagnostic services. Lack of labour and the workforce's unwillingness to work in smaller towns and cities, which leads to an unequal distribution, hinder the nation's capacity to construct better medical facilities.  

3. Inadequate Infrastructure: Twenty percent of basic healthcare services in India are provided by public health institutions. The private sector operates the vast majority of secondary and tertiary care facilities. Few physicians, nurses, or other staff members work in a typical government hospital. Due to the fact that these hospitals serve a sizable local population with the help of NGO for healthcare, they are frequently overcrowded. Due to an oversupply of patients, they do not have enough beds. They may frequently have a scarcity of medications and consumables, staff members may be dishonest and look to bribe patients, they lack essential utilities like a consistent supply of fuel, power, and water, and they are unclean and unsanitary. Patients may have to wait for their ambulances to be accessible because of malfunctions or malfeasance.

4. Low Health Insurance Uptake: People who can't get care from public health systems are compelled to go to private hospitals. Profit is the primary motivation for private healthcare institutions. They boost their own pricing by taking advantage of the obvious supply-demand imbalance. Accordingly, medical care at a private hospital may be significantly more costly than in a government hospital. Yet, 75% of people in our country are compelled to pay for their own medical care since they do not have health insurance. Because of this circumstance, many individuals cannot afford healthcare. It is here that the NGO for healthcare steps in and takes care.

5. Low-quality Control: Do you recall the holes in the supply chain? Private players may therefore now profit from the healthcare sector. Accreditation is not required for a tiny new participant. People don't care about or know about quality standards either. They visit any inexpensive place. Unregulated by the government, tiny, profit-driven clinics, hospitals, diagnostic centres, and imaging facilities started to appear everywhere. They don't have to live up to any minimum standards. And yet, since they are reasonably priced, they thrive. Less than 1% of hospitals and diagnostic labs were accredited by NABH or NABL as of 2014.

Thus, if the government spends more on public healthcare, it may be able to achieve the following objectives:  

1. Greater pay would entice knowledgeable medical professionals and labourers to remain in India

2. More pay and better living circumstances in smaller towns and villages will make it possible for physicians to practise there.

3. Greater funding will allow public hospitals to purchase supplies and medications, have a steady supply of water and energy, maintain a clean and safe environment, and keep equipment and ambulances in good working order so they are ready for use when needed. 

4. More financing would assist in creating new colleges in more areas or boost the number of seats now available for medical, nursing, and technical training centres. This would produce more qualified medical personnel, which would help us fulfil the high expectations of our populace.

5. More public health facilities can be established to prevent overcrowding in specific centres with more financing and simple access to competent labour. When patient numbers are under control, beds, drugs, and proper care may be provided. 

6. The government may treat the impoverished for free via the public health system if it collects more revenue. The government may provide the underprivileged health insurance in addition to free medical care so they can get treatment at private facilities.

In the end, there are several alternative approaches to enhance healthcare quality, such as:

Boosting domestic innovation and medical device production. Allocating greater funds for medical research with Search NGO Upskilling current workforce and enhancing medical, nursing, and technical education. International collaborations: However, the government must first improve healthcare spending and address fundamental infrastructure before we can accomplish this. 

[amirthefashion]

What it’s really like to live in Macao

I only go to casinos once a year, on Chinese New Year,” says Vivian Lai, a second-generation Macao resident who is training as a nurse. The tradition of gambling is said to bring good luck for the year to come, whether you win or lose.

Macao, the Chinese special administrative region (SAR) often twinned with Hong Kong, is known as the Las Vegas of Asia. As the only place in greater China where gambling is legal, the city’s skyline is a who’s-who of the biggest names in the gaming industry.

Home to just 600,000 residents – compared to seven million in Hong Kong – visitors to Macao might feel like the rest of the city lost in the shadow of the towering hotels and casinos. But travelers who are willing to dig in a little deeper can explore Macanese culture, which mixes Portuguese, Chinese and Southeast Asian heritages.

Macao is comprised of two islands – the north one, Macao itself, and its southern neighbor Taipa. For a long time, Taipa was relatively rural, and people had to travel between the two islands by boat. The first bridge connecting the two was completed in 1972. Now, there are three, with a fourth in construction.

RELATED ARTICLENot just casinos: Macao reimagines tourism post-pandemic

A world in 40 square kilometers

While the rest of the world may associate Macao with gambling, its citizens don’t necessarily feel the same way.

“In Asia, [people] think that Macao is full of casinos, and I think they do not understand the other parts of Macao,” says Lai. “When I go to Europe, when I say I come from Macao, actually they don’t know where it is, so I have to say it’s a small city next to Hong Kong.”

Marina Fernandes agrees. She is an eighth generation Macanese, from one of the oldest families on the island.

In this photo from the mid-1800s, Macao was a busy Portuguese colony. Michael Maslan/Corbis/Getty Images

“The locals seldom go to the casinos,” she says. “It’s a very small number of people who really go to the casino to gamble. We don’t gamble. We do other things. And actually the civil servants, they are forbidden to enter [casinos]. The gambling is more for the tourists, it’s not for the locals.”

Due to rising costs of living in Macao, many employees of the casinos and luxury shops are increasingly likely to commute to work from Zhuhai, the less expensive mainland Chinese city just across the water from Macao, and to speak Mandarin Chinese instead of Cantonese.

Though Macao’s special status as an SAR means that people traveling between Zhuhai and Macao still have to go through border control, the process is speedier for permanent residents and citizens with Chinese national ID cards thanks to express lanes.

According to Macao’s 2021 census, about five-sixths of Macao’s population is ethnically Chinese. Only a few thousand are Portuguese. While Portuguese is still an official language of the city and must be used on signage and in government literature, many locals opted to learn English or Mandarin Chinese instead, especially ahead of the handover – when Macao was returned to Chinese rule – in 1999.

Getting around

Macao’s airport, located on eastern Taipa, is small but modern and easy to navigate. Home to a single terminal, most of its flights are from around the region, with regular connections to places like Singapore, Jakarta, Hanoi, Bangkok and Beijing. However, for longer-haul routes to North America and Europe, locals will have to head to nearby Hong Kong, Shenzhen or Guangzhou.

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The mammoth Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai Bridge, the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge, was completed in 2018. It is just one of many Chinese projects intended to connect and promote the “Greater Bay Area” region.

Despite the $20 billion bridge, infrastructure within Macao is a different story. Locals who don’t have cars rely mostly on public buses. While Hong Kong has an efficient, well-organized metro system, Macao’s LRT (light rapid transit) system started in 2019 and only has one line so far. Uber suspended its services in Macao in 2017, and taxis only accept cash.

Cultural power

Fernandes spent several years living in Portugal, but says she felt alienated there and decided to return to Macao.

“We learned the Portuguese history. We know every city of Portugal. We sang proudly the Portuguese anthem,” says Fernandes. “Especially after the handover, they do not know us. They do not understand us, that we feel Portuguese.”

She says that the stereotypes she encountered about Macao involved gambling, triad gangs, and prostitution, as well as old cliches about Chinese people like that women still wore traditional qipao dresses and that men had the single braid or ponytail hairstyle.

A Portuguese-style tram in Taipa, the southern of Macao's two islands. Eduardo Leal/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Due to its small size, Macao is strict about working policies for foreigners.

Ricardo Balocas, a Lisbon native who moved to Macao in 2013, has held a variety of jobs since relocating from Europe, including management roles at the Macao International Airport and at St. Joseph’s University, the only Catholic four-year university in Asia.

Most foreigners – like Balocas – who move to Macao are eligible for permanent residency after seven years of living, working and paying taxes. That means that they can live in Macao without a work visa and do not need a company sponsoring them.

Residents with local ID cards are also able to use the city’s socialized health care. Macao citizens and permanent residents get an annual perk in the form of 10,000 patacas ($1,240) a year from the government.

However, the rules are different for many of the workers who come from poorer parts of the world, namely the Philippines. Many Filipinos come to Macao to work as domestic helpers or as security guards in casinos and luxury shops, but they cannot qualify for permanent residency or citizenship – unless they get married to a local.

According to the annual Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports by how many destinations their holders can visit visa-free, Macao has the 33rd most powerful passport in the world, and Portugal is tied for the fifth best. Meanwhile, the Philippines’ passport is ranked 75th.

RELATED ARTICLE‘Like the tart, I never change’: The secret behind Macao’s most famous dessert

Life in ‘Little Lisbon’

Balocas estimates that about half of Macao’s expat Portuguese population left during the pandemic, as Macao had some of the strictest requirements in the world, including a 21-day quarantine.

That’s why he counts on places like Albergue 1601, a restaurant housed in a heritage building from the colonial eral, to keep the city’s Portuguese heritage alive.

“This neighborhood has the lamps in the street exactly the same as in Lisbon,” he says. “So if you walk around, you almost feel that you are in Lisbon. Sometimes I even joke that you can come here and take some pictures and say that you are in Lisbon without being in Lisbon.”

However, Balocas says that whether you love or hate casinos, it is impossible to ignore them. He sometimes joins a poker game on his day off: “I like to play against people, not machines.”

He cites a recent government program that “pairs” casinos with specific local streets and shops and encourages their guests to go there and spend money, as a positive move forward. In his opinion, getting hotel guests to venture outside into Macao – which is densely packed and easy to navigate on foot – helps the whole community.

“What I want people to explore when they come to Macao, it’s to get out from the casinos, honestly,” says Balocas. “There is a lot to explore. We have beautiful museums, beautiful neighborhoods.”

These days, Balocas is working at a hospitality group, managing Albergue 1601.

When he has friends or family in town, he says, the first stop is the Macao Tower observation deck, so they can see just how small and compact the city is.

“Even nowadays that I’m 11 years here, sometimes I like to get lost. Don’t just explore the center, explore the alleys.”

[shop-korea]

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ME - HOW - I - LIVE - IN - FLORIDA - 2

AMAZON - PRIME

CHANGED - OUR - LIVES

MIAMI - RIVER - SUCH - STRONG YES

WINDS - HAS - CHANGED - ME MOST

CHEAP - HOTELS - IN - TOKYO - JAPAN

$20 - $76.80 - I - THINK - WANT CHEAP

FEMALES - ONLY - REMINDED OF

MANHATTAN - NEW YORK & FELT

CREEPY - WHY - ARE - JAPANESE

VERY - SHORT - 5 FT - MEN - AND

4 FT - WOMEN - MAYBE - WHERE

THEY - SLEEP

CHINA - 7'1 FT - 7 FT - MEN

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WHO - HAS - 7 FT - MEN - 2

WHERE - THEY - SLEEP

DEAR - KOREAN - GIRLS,

FOUND - OUT - WE - DON'T

HIDE - OUR - WOOLS - FOR

SUMMER - WOOL - LIKE A

MARBLE - WALL - FLOORS

THEY - BRING - COLD - OF

WINTER - 2 - WARMTH OF

SUMMER - WOOL - BEST

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WOOL - HATS - WE - SAVE

MONEY - BECAUSE - WINDS

OF - MIAMI - RIVER - COLD 2

SO - LIGHT - PINK - MY VIBE

GETTING - ECKEL - WATER

DOWNSTAIRS

TOMORROW - 22 MARCH 24

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AT - APP - ANOTHER's

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WATER - REDUCED SODIUM

VIENNA - SAUSAGE - BOIL

THE - SAUSAGES - AND THE

BOILING - WATER - 2 - MAKE

MARUCHAN - NEW

ROASTED - CHICKEN

NEVER - EVER - COOKED

THERE - B 4 - CLEAN WITH

WATER - THEN - POUR - IN

MY - 4 GALLON - WATER

BAG - MIRACLE

I - ONLY - HAVE - CERAMIC

MUG - WAS - ROBBED - OF

CERAMIC - SAUCER

GRAND - THEFT

HISPANIC - OLD - WEIRDO

I'M - OLDER - THAN - AND

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JAIL - WE - NEED - 2 C YOUR

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8TH - CRUEL - UNUSUAL

PUNISHMENT

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LIBERTY - HOMELESSNESS

PROPERTY - OUR - THINGS

CRIMINAL - ACT 2 DEPRIVE

OF - USE - OF - PURCHASED

PROPERTY

SO - HERE - IS - WOOL - AS

OUR - RESCUE - WINTER &

SUMMER - AMAZON PRIME

FREDDY COUSIN-BROWN

FREDDY - MY LOVE

YOUTUBER

INTRODUCED - LIGHT PINK

LOUIE VUITTON

AVENTURA - MALL

MIAMI - FLORIDA

$7.99 - PAPERBACK - PATTERNS

SENTRO - $69.99 - FULLY MORE

AUTO - THAN - OTHER

48 NEEDLES

BUT - ADAPTER - 2 B - ABLE - TO

US - PINK - ELECTRIC CORDLESS

USB - SCREWDRIVER - SO U CAN

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U - GO - AROUND - AT - FIRST

1 ROUND - THE - SLOWEST &

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FAST - USING - CORDLESS U

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MACHINE - GO - FASTER

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METER - TELLS - U - HOW

MANY - ROUNDS - U HAVE

LEFT 2 - DO - MOST - YES

FEATURES - MORE - AUTO

$69.99 - FOR - A - REASON

48 NEEDLES

SWEATERS - WOOL - HATS

FINGERLESS - GLOVES AS

I - WORKOUT - DOORS AND

STAIRS NOT BAREHANDED

STEEL - BARS - FULL - OF

GERMS - CORONAVIRUS

FINGERLESS - GLOVES

WHAT - U USE - BUT WE

HAVE - NEVER - USED

WOOL IN THE SUMMER

NOW - WE - KNOW

MARBLE - LIKE - WOOL

SILK - NOT - GREAT

POLYESTER BLOCK

WINDS

THUS - SUMMER

100% ORGANIC COTTON

RECYCLED - POLYESTER

SUMMER - WINTER

WOOL

POLYESTER

WE - CAN - MAKE - OUR

OWN - WOOL - DRESSES

SWEATERS - HATS - AND

FINGERLESS - GLOVES

AMAZON - PRIME

WOOL - LT PINKS

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LOVE - LT PINK - LOVE - LT PINK 2

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

"Timeless Threads: Classics and Contemporaries in Cinema"

JORDAN STEWART

Throughout the course of the semester we have covered the world of cinema as a dynamic landscape, constantly evolving with new trends, technologies, and storytelling techniques. The ever-changing landscape, certain films stand the test of time, continuing to resonate with audiences across generations. I am going to look at films:, "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) and "Rules of the Game" (1939). Not only have they left their mark on cinematic history but also continue to influence contemporary filmmakers. Moreover, the current Hollywood landscape, exemplified by films like "Fast X" (2023) and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" (2023), reflects a balance between innovation and a reliance on familiar characters and narratives.

Looking into "Bicycle Thieves" directed by Vittorio De Sica, is a poignant representation of the human struggle against socio-economic adversities. The movie was adapted for the screen by Cesare Zavattini from Luigi Bartolini's 1946 novel, the film received an Academy Honorary Award for the most outstanding foreign language film in 1950. Notably, in 1952, Sight & Sound magazine's poll of filmmakers and critics declared it the greatest film of all time.

    The relevance of "Bicycle Thieves" lies in its emphasis on the everyday struggles of ordinary people, a theme that continues to permeate contemporary cinema. Alfonso Cuarón's "Roma" (2018) is a notable example, mirroring the neorealist approach by portraying the lives of marginalized individuals. The emotional depth and social commentary embedded in "Bicycle Thieves" serve as a timeless template for filmmakers seeking to explore the human condition.

  Rules of the Game (1939) directed by Jean Renoir is a Timeless Exploration of Social Dynamics. During the peak of the French film industry in 1938, "Rules of the Game" shows us social class and human behavior. Despite facing financial challenges, the film became the most expensive French production of its time, highlighting its ambitious scope. Its influence is unmistakable in Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014), a film that, like its predecessor, combines comedy and drama to dissect societal dynamics.

    The appeal of "Rules of the Game" lies in its ability to provide a sophisticated examination of human relationships and societal norms. The film's impact can be observed in the way contemporary filmmakers approach storytelling, injecting depth and nuance into their narratives to explore the complexities of the human experience.

  Examples of Hollywood Today: Fast X (2023) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

In the ever-evolving landscape of Hollywood, contemporary films like "Fast X" (2023) and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" (2023) showcase the industry's inclination to capitalize on familiar characters and stories. While these films may not receive the same critical acclaim as their classic counterparts, they represent a delicate balance between catering to audience expectations and pushing the boundaries of cinematic innovation.

    "Fast X" (2023) may not be hailed as a masterpiece, but its existence underscores the industry's reliance on established franchises and characters to attract audiences. Similarly, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" (2023) is a continuation of a beloved series, reflecting Hollywood's ongoing commitment to nostalgia and the enduring appeal of iconic characters.

    The cinematic landscape is a tapestry woven with threads of tradition and innovation. "Bicycle Thieves" and "Rules of the Game" serve as timeless pillars, influencing filmmakers to explore the intricacies of the human experience. Meanwhile, contemporary Hollywood productions like "Fast X" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" demonstrate the industry's ability to adapt, combining the allure of familiar narratives with the need for innovation. In this delicate balance between the past and the present, cinema continues to captivate audiences, transcending time and trends.

[rabbitcruiser]

Bellagio Hotel & Casino, NV (No. 7)

Fountains of Bellagio is a free attraction at the Bellagio resort, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It consists of a musical fountain show performed in an 8.5-acre (3.4 ha) man-made lake in front of the resort. The show uses 1,214 water nozzles and 4,792 lights. The fountains shoot as high as 460 feet. Stages are sometimes built on the lake to host events, such as musical performances, that incorporate the fountain show.

It was conceived by owner Steve Wynn, and built by the design firm WET. Work began on the fountain show in 1995, and it opened with the resort on October 15, 1998. The attraction was built for $40 million, making it one of the most expensive fountains in the world. The Fountains of Bellagio have appeared in numerous films. It is a signature attraction for Las Vegas, and one of the most photographed places in the United States. It was the largest fountain show in the world until The Dubai Fountain opened in 2009.

The Fountains of Bellagio opened on October 15, 1998, along with the Bellagio resort, both built on the former site of the Dunes hotel-casino. The shows take place in a man-made lake in front of the resort. The Bellagio and its fountain attraction were conceived by casino owner Steve Wynn. The attraction was created by the design firm WET, which had never created such a large project before. Work began on the attraction in 1995, and it was completed at a cost of $40 million. It was one of the most expensive fountains in the world.

The fountains are among the most photographed places in the United States. It was the largest fountain show in the world until The Dubai Fountain, also by WET, was opened in 2009. After leaving the Bellagio in 2000, Wynn would later include a water show at his Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace resorts.

More than 240,000 fountain shows had been performed at the Bellagio as of October 2018. A new edition of the show, promoting the final season of Game of Thrones, was unveiled in 2019 and ran for two weeks. Scenes from the television show were projected onto a wall of water formed by the fountains, and new technology was installed to shoot flames up from the surface of the water. Music from the series was also incorporated into the fountain show.

The Fountains of Bellagio have been closed on several occasions, for instance during a three-day power outage at the resort in 2004. Shows are also canceled if winds reach 25 miles per hour. As of 2005, only five shows had ever been canceled because of technical problems. The show was temporarily closed in March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It returned two and a half months later.

Source: Wikipedia

[ailtrahq]

Karl Sebastian Greenwood pleaded guilty on December 16, 2022, to operating a multi-billion cryptocurrency pyramid scheme dubbed OneCoin. In a bid to send a strong message to the cryptocurrency community around the world, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the southern district of New York, announced on Tuesday that Karl Sebastian Greenwood, a co-founder of the OneCoin project with Ruja Ignatova (cryptoqueen), has been sentenced to a 20-year prison term. According to the announcement, the sentencing was issued by US District Judge Edgardo Ramos. Notably, Greenwood is said to have led the OneCoin global marketing structure dubbed MLM network that accrued approximately $300 million for him by 2016. Moreover, Greenwood earned about 5 percent of monthly OneCoin sales from anywhere in the world. Reportedly, the OneCoin crypto project duped nearly 3.5 million investors from around the world and stole over $4 billion. “As a founder and leader of OneCoin, Karl Sebastian Greenwood operated one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated.  Greenwood and his co-conspirators, including fugitive Ruja Ignatova, conned unsuspecting victims out of billions of dollars with promises of a ‘financial revolution’ and claims that OneCoin would be the ‘Bitcoin killer.’ In fact, OneCoins were entirely worthless, and investors were left with nothing,” Williams noted. Notably, Greenwood was arrested at his residence on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand, in July 2018 and was extradited to the United States to face fraud and money laundering charges in October 2018. OneCoin Co-founder Greenwood Misuses Investors’ Money According to the announcement, Greenwood used investors’ money to book luxury hotels all over the world and purchase expensive properties. For instance, Greenwood stayed in a five-star resort in Brazil and used about $10k back in December 2015. Later the same month, Greenwood used about $21k of fraud proceeds to stay at a luxury villa with a beach view in Koh Samui, Thailand.  In early 2016, Greenwood went to Barcelona and stayed in a luxury five-star hotel in addition to renting a Range Rover during the same period. Reportedly, Greenwood purchased designer clothes, shoes, and watches worth approximately $2 million. He is also believed to have paid a down payment of about $475k for a yacht. The announcement further noted that Greenwood had purchased various real estate in different countries including Dubai, Spain, and Thailand. As a result, the court ordered Greenwood to pay approximately $300 million in forfeiture in addition to the 20-year prison sentence. Closer Look at the OneCoin Project The OneCoin project attracted most investors for promising hefty profits. Moreover, the OneCoin gained in price from about €0.5 to approximately €29.95 in less than five years. Founded in Sofia, Bulgaria back in 2014, the OneCoin project has been described as one of the largest pyramid schemes in the cryptocurrency market. Notably, the FBI has listed the cryptoqueen on the most wanted list and issued a $250k reward for any information that may lead to her arrest. Thank you! You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Source

[guestprouser]

10 Amazing facts about Christiano Ronaldo

While Cristiano Ronaldo is a well-known public figure with a highly documented life and career, there are still some lesser-known facts about him that may not be widely known. Here are a few interesting and perhaps less-known facts about Cristiano Ronaldo:

Early Struggles: Ronaldo came from humble beginnings. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. His family lived in a small tin-roofed house, and his father worked as a kit man at a local football club. Ronaldo's journey to stardom was marked by financial struggles.

Nickname: His full name is Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, but he is often simply called "CR7." The "CR" stands for Cristiano Ronaldo, while the "7" represents his jersey number.

Record-Breaking Transfers: Ronaldo has been involved in two of the most expensive transfers in football history. He transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then-world-record fee of £80 million. He then moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018 for around €100 million.

Ronaldo and Sir Alex Ferguson: Ronaldo had a close relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, his manager during his time at Manchester United. Ferguson once said that Cristiano Ronaldo was the most talented player he had ever managed.

Fitness and Work Ethic: Ronaldo is known for his incredible work ethic and dedication to fitness. He reportedly has the physical attributes of a 20-year-old despite being in his mid-30s. His disciplined training routines and commitment to his body have played a significant role in his longevity at the highest level of football.

Philanthropy: Ronaldo is actively involved in various charitable causes. He has donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations and has been recognized for his philanthropic efforts, including supporting children's hospitals and disaster relief efforts.

Ronaldo, the Actor: Cristiano Ronaldo has made cameo appearances in a few films and TV shows. He appeared in the British TV drama "Cristiano Ronaldo: The World at His Feet" and had a brief cameo in the Bollywood film "Dil Dhadakne Do."

Entrepreneurship: Ronaldo has ventured into various business and entrepreneurial pursuits, including launching his own clothing line, fragrances, and a line of CR7-branded hotels. He is also a co-owner of a football agency called "Polaris Sports."

Multi-Linguist: Ronaldo is known to be proficient in multiple languages. Besides Portuguese and English, he can reportedly speak Spanish and understands some Italian.

Father of Four: Ronaldo is a father to four children. He has three biological children, Cristiano Jr., twins Eva and Mateo, and a daughter named Alana Martina. He is protective of his children's privacy and often shares family moments on social media.

While these facts may not be entirely unknown to some fans, they offer a deeper look into the life and career of one of the greatest footballers of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo.

[dan6085]

Some of the most expensive and biggest projects in the world:

1. International Space Station (ISS) - Costing over $100 billion, ISS is a collaborative space station involving multiple countries for scientific research and space exploration.

2. Dubailand - This entertainment complex in Dubai is estimated to cost around $64 billion and includes various theme parks, hotels, and attractions.

3. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge - With a cost of about $20 billion, this bridge-tunnel system connects Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao, spanning approximately 34 miles.

4. Al Maktoum International Airport Expansion - This project in Dubai aims to create the world's largest airport with a final estimated cost of over $32 billion.

5. King Abdullah Economic City - Situated in Saudi Arabia, this mega-project is designed to be a major hub for commerce, housing, and tourism, with an expected cost of around $100 billion.

6. The Great Man-Made River Project - Costing about $25 billion, this ambitious water supply project in Libya aims to bring water from underground aquifers to cities and agricultural areas.

7. California High-Speed Rail - This rail network project in the United States has an estimated cost exceeding $100 billion and aims to connect major cities with high-speed trains.

8. Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station - Located in the UK, this nuclear power station is expected to cost around $30 billion and provide a significant portion of the country's electricity needs.

9. Kashagan Oil Field Development - Situated in Kazakhstan, this oil field project's costs have surpassed $50 billion due to its challenging environment and complex extraction methods.

10. Beijing Daxing International Airport - Built to alleviate pressure on Beijing Capital International Airport, this airport's cost is around $13 billion and features an innovative star-shaped design.

11. New International Airport Mexico City (NAICM) - Despite being canceled in 2018, this airport's construction had reached around $13 billion before it was halted.

12. London Crossrail Project (Elizabeth Line) - With an estimated cost of over $20 billion, this ambitious railway project aims to connect various parts of London and the surrounding area.

13. Three Gorges Dam - Built in China, this massive hydroelectric dam's cost exceeded $30 billion and plays a crucial role in energy production and flood control.

14. The Suez Canal Expansion - This project involved widening and deepening parts of the Suez Canal to accommodate larger vessels and had a price tag of around $8 billion.

15. Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 - With a cost of approximately $20 billion, this terminal is one of the largest in the world and serves as a major hub in Asia.

16. Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (Big Dig) - This complex highway project in the United States cost around $24 billion and aimed to alleviate traffic congestion in Boston.

17. London Olympic Park - The cost of developing the facilities for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London totaled around $15 billion.

18. James Webb Space Telescope - While not as expensive as some other projects, this telescope's development and launch costs have exceeded $10 billion, aiming to revolutionize space observation.

19. ITER - The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France is a fusion research project with costs surpassing $20 billion, aiming to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion as a clean energy source.

20. Sagrada Familia - Although not among the most expensive, this iconic basilica's ongoing construction in Barcelona has been ongoing since 1882 and relies on donations, with a final cost yet to be determined.

[marketing123456789]

Draught Beer Chiller Market Size and Share: Business Analysis, Upcoming Demand, Growth Outlook, Key Driver and Futuristic Scope by 2033

Demand for UK draught beer chillers is projected to grow at a robust CAGR of 5.9% CAGR between 2023 and 2033. The UK is one of the leading countries when it comes to sales of draught beer chillers.

According to Future Market Insights, the global draught beer chiller market size is expected to be valued at US$ 1,782.2 Mn in 2023 and further grow at 3.5% CAGR throughout the forecast period (2023-2033). Overall, draught beer chiller sales are projected to total a valuation of US$ 2,514.0 Mn by 2033.

Rising consumption of draught beer across the world coupled with rising need for efficient beer cooling solutions is a key factor driving the global draught beer chiller market forward.

A draught beer chiller is a highly efficient solution used to cool draught beers across several end-use industries. It is a type of refrigerator that uses a cooling system to lower the temperature of the beer. They help end users to keep beer cold and fresh.

Get Sample Copy@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-16222

A growing number of bars, pubs, and restaurants around the world is emerging as a crucial factor driving demand for draught beer chillers and the trend is expected to continue during the forecast period.

Similarly, innovation in beer cooling solutions and reduction in product prices will create lucrative opportunities for leading draught beer chiller manufacturers over the next ten years.

The most popular type of beer chilling system is the glycol chiller. Glycol chillers use a glycol and water mixture to cool the beer lines and taps. Despite being more expensive, glycol-cooled chiller are preferred by end user due to their more efficient nature.

Key Takeaways:

Based on type, glycol-cooled chiller segment holds a substantial share of the global draught beer chiller market.

By end user, bars and restaurants together hold the largest share of the worldwide draught beer chiller industry.

In terms of structure, demand remains high for counter-top draught beer chillers in the market.

Germany currently holds around 22.0% share in the global draught beer chiller market.

With a market valuation of US$ 650.5 Mn, the U.S. holds nearly 36.5% share in the global draught beer chiller market.

The UK draught beer chiller market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period.

“There are many factors that have contributed to the rise in popularity of draught beer chillers, but one of the biggest drivers has been the growing demand and consumption of draught or draft beer worldwide,” says a lead FMI analyst.

View Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/draught-beer-chiller-market

Who is Winning?

Top 5 manufacturers of Draught Beer Chillers are Zhongde Equipment Co., Ltd., Maxwell Food Equipment, BEVERAGE-AIR, Lanco Industry Co. Ltd, and MF Refrigeration.

The competition in the Draught Beer Chiller market is intense because the products are very similar. The main difference between the products is their price. Hence, key players are focused on reducing product prices as well as launching new innovative beer chilling solutions in the market.

Get More Valuable Insights

Future Market Insights, in its new offering, provides an unbiased analysis of Draught Beer Chiller presenting historical demand data (2018-2022) and forecast statistics for the period from 2023-2033.

The study provides valuable insight on the Draught Beer Chiller market based on type (air-cooled, water-cooled, and glycol-cooled), end user (breweries, bars, restaurants, and hotels), and structure (Counter-top, and Under Counter) across several regions.

About Food & Beverage Division at Future Market Insights

The Food & Beverage team at Future Market Insights provides all the necessary insights and consulting analysis to fulfill the unique business intelligence needs of clients worldwide. With a catalog of more than 500 reports pertaining to the latest statistics and analysis from the food & beverage industry, the team is happy to help with every business intelligence research and consulting requirement.

Draught Beer Chiller Industry Outlook by Category

By Type:

Air-cooled

Water-cooled

Glycol-cooled

By End User:

Breweries

Bars

Restaurants

Hotels

By Structure:

Counter-top

Under Counter

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Oceania

MEA

About FMI

Future Market Insights, Inc. (ESOMAR certified, Stevie Award – recipient market research organization and a member of Greater New York Chamber of Commerce) provides in-depth insights into governing factors elevating the demand in the market. It discloses opportunities that will favor the market growth in various segments on the basis of Source, Application, Sales Channel and End Use over the next 10-years.

[tgh2023]

Toyi Swuro: A Proud Cobbler

If you have the right skills, you can overcome every obstacle in life. Craftsmen have the power to unleash their imagination and bring it to life with the help of their skills. The same is true in the case of Toyi Swuro. Toyi is a skilled leather craftsman who creates wonders at his shop. Being a resident of Phek District Nagaland, he takes pride in calling himself a ‘Naga Cobbler’. 

Toyi started his entrepreneurial journey in 2018 with the inception of Craft Gallery. In his unique shop, he makes a lot of things with leather such as footwear, purses, wallets, belts, bags and many more. He repairs shoes at minimal rates so that no one has to wear broken shoes. For all those people who cannot afford to give him any money for the shoe repair, Toyi fixes them for free. His great efforts were recognised and he was awarded the 1st North East Unsung Heroes Red Carpet Social Award 2019 in Entrepreneurship. 

By running a shop for everyone, Toyi spread the message that no work is big or small. It depends on one’s hard work that can bring a change in the world. In conversation with The Global Hues, Toyi sheds light on his entrepreneurial journey, challenges and success.

Give us a brief introduction about yourself and your company, Craft Gallery.

I hail from the Phek district of Nagaland. During childhood, the financial condition of my family was not very good. All of my father’s income went into education and the daily expenses and needs. Being the eldest among all the siblings, I decided to become self-reliant and started to earn to support my family. I began working by doing what I was good at, that’s how I became a cobbler. 

At Crafts Gallery, we are full-time leather crafters who mend shoes for the community at a very low cost. My vision is to be self-reliant and give back to the community in every little way possible. 

How do your family and friends support you in your entire journey?

My family is very proud of me for the work I am doing. The love and support I received from them gave me the motivation to keep moving forward. This job enables me to earn a daily income with which I can take care of my family’s needs. 

However, there are many obstacles in my entire journey because I am working as a cobbler. Many people think that I can get a much better job opportunity than doing a cobbler job because I am a graduate and also a trained hotel management individual. They see cobbler work as a menial job because very few people from my state do it. I believe that no work is small, if it gives you happiness and resources to raise your family you should do it. 

You call yourself a proud Naga Cobbler. What is the reason behind that?

Because of this noble job, today I am financially independent and able to help others also. All the fame and recognition I gained is because of this work. This is the reason I don’t feel ashamed of telling people what I do. Therefore, I call myself a proud Naga Cobbler. I earn respect and blessings from many people and this is my biggest wealth. I am happy that I can help others in some way and make their lives a little less problematic. 

What is the one thing that inspires you the most?

Providing services to people around me and helping them out is my biggest source of inspiration. It fills me with new energy to move forward without doubting my potential. The happy faces of people after I repair or mend their shoes are the most satisfying part of my job. 

What message do you want to convey to the younger generation? 

Do not solely depend on government jobs but rather be independent to create more job avenues and platforms for upcoming generations as well through private sectors. Identify your skill set and upgrade them to a professional level by coming out of your comfort zones. Stay humble and have a sense of humility in your work and the rest of the things leading to success will eventually follow you.

[lettersfromcitizenjoan]

Joaning & My Current State of Affairs a Short Story The Vultures always came in Fall. I would sit in the garden and stare up at the blue cloud sky as they hovered spinning in a circle towards the sun, 20 or 30 at a time. I loved how free they look. My whole aim in life was to fly and be as free as them. Vultures aren’t beautiful up close, they have feathers everywhere except their heads. I’m assuming Jehovah designed them that way so they don’t get blood and guts in their feathers when they devour their carcasses,but I’m not sure, all I know is as soon as I got the chance to fly like them, I took it. First, I flew to Montreal, where people spoke french and I saw snow glitter under the street lamps at night and then flew back to St.Petersburg and then I flew to New York City and ate pizza in Times Square and saw my cousins in Brooklyn and then flew back to St.Petersburg. Then I flew to New York City again in the summer and saw my name on a wall at an art show. I flew to New York City again and again and again. I don’t believe I could ever reside in New York City but I certainly enjoy my time when I’m there. There’s always a tinge of excitement when you see the Empire State Building from the airplane window. I stayed at The Plaza and saw Lust for Youth play in Brooklyn and stayed at the St.Regis and sung along to a man on a piano playing jazz standards and drank blush wine at Bemmelman’s Bar in The Carlyle Hotel. I walked down Madison Avenue and got lost and followed. I explored the Lower East Side and danced in dark concert halls with my favorite Indie bands in Williamsburg and rode in Town Cars down Park Avenue, without a boy. I went back to St.Petersburg and reminisced on my time there when I went to warehouse shows and punk shows at the VFW and watched bands at the State Theater and Jannus and Local 662 and Ramblin Rose and Venture Compound and laughed and didn’t drink alcohol because I didn’t need it to feel good with my reoccuring acquaintances from all corners of the globe that I took surprise photos of and then one day I flew to San Diego to see John Maus and ended up hanging out with my favorite pro surfers in Costa Mesa instead and met the characters behind my favorite surf magazine in Newport Beach and went to Los Angeles the next day and bought a Gucci bag on Rodeo Drive and had dinner at Wolfgang Puck via dark winding roads in Bel-Air and sat by their fireplace after and admired the swans in the lagoon and took a Mercedes-Benz to LAX and flew back to St.Petersburg. Then shortly after I flew back to New York City and hung out with the boys from Newport Beach in the warmest bar filled to the brim with young and beautiful people on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where our time together was too short and shortly after partied with surfers again close to home and flew to San Francisco the next morning and finally got to see John Maus and ate some delicious Thai food at a suggested restaurant both days and shivered to death near the Golden Gate Bridge and got into an argument with a few passengers on the flight home and finally made peace with the drama of 2018 and the year before that I interviewed Panda Bear & Ernest from Washed Out and forgot to press the record button and lost the footage but I keep the regret buried deep enough to forget it and the memory tucked away for later and I also recall hanging out with cute guys in post punk bands and freezing to death under strings of cotton candy skies on long stretches of beach at dusk in California. I love the air in California its cool and dry as opposed to the heavy wet air in St.Petersburg. I had always thought the air was the same everywhere in the world but I was mistaken and before California and before my grandma rested from her time on earth, I finally flew to Paris, land of my dreams, where I went to the most expensive hotels to eat and drink Champagne and had dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower with a nice family of fellow Americans and danced in dark venues and caught a cold the morning I went to London to eat cheesecake from Harrods near a man playing a bagpipe near Big Ben and interviewed the lead singer of the Mystery Jets at a french cafe on the corner down the road from the venue and ran into a Dior model named Camille who was there for fashion week and she complimented my beret at Cafe de Flore and I strolled through the Jardin d’Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne and felt the breeze on top of the Louis Vuitton Fondation and had a $200 dollar lunch for one next to some fashion writers in Paris who left me their card and dressed in my finest sequin dresses and fur capes and bought perfume at Chanel and a wallet from Dior and after these things I rested. I slept and slept and slept and reminisced and got sad that I all the fun had stopped for a little while and looked forward to it all starting again and one day it did. One day I flew to LA again and saw that boy I couldn’t get out of my head again and he invited me to a bar but he had another woman and I waved at him again on the busy road and talked to other surfers at 54th street and enjoyed my time till sunset with a single firework in the distance then I flew to New York City at the suggestion of my driver and reminisced under the full moon and the glittering lights of manhattan and park avenue and the east river and may or may not have seen Helen Mirren in front of NBC Studios talking on her iphone on a Monday night and then flew to LA where I toured Warner Brothers Studios where so many of my favorite movies have been made and drank Martinis overlooking the Hollywood Hills at the Pendry Hotel and had Fried Chicken and the last Chocolate Souffle at The Beverly Hills Hotel in a green banquet with a section all to myself and sat in the warm California sun by a pool in West Hollywood and took the last flight out at 11:10pm back to the East Coast then flew to New York City again and stayed at the TWA hotel and had another wonderful night strolling the LES and someone in a group of strangers passed by me told me I was beautiful and how I took the subway the next day on purpose and got off at the first place the train stopped unaware of where I was and got dropped off in front of Madison Square Garden where I walked down the crowded streets and got pleasantly lost then got tired of being lost and hailed a taxi to the Vanderbilt Gates and walked through the manicured gardens behind it and took the last flight home again and shortly after that met my favorite skateboarder on a layover at PHX and hugged my favorite lead singer twice shortly after and after those things I sat in the garden my grandma worked so hard to leave me where I would dance with the trees as they wriggled in the wind and comforted the blue jays and the stray orange cat and the raccoons and watched how the sun rays strayed through their branches and made them more beautiful than I was expecting and I cried my heart out because I cry after all endings, especially the ends of long strings of fun times. I mourn for the end of this system, I mourn for lives of the people I love that do not serve God because if they choose not to change certain death is waiting for them, whether they accept my pleadings means their lives and I just wonder if I say enough or if I could do more, I hate to be a pusher but we’re running out of time. If I could say one thing it would be that the end of this current way of life will come with God’s vengeance that leads to a new beginning we all need. I listened to the dirge of the Grey Pigeons on the electric wires and I watched french films under the sparkling appearance of the Big Dipper and the full Moon and fought with my aunts and had a mental breakdown and observed the bright green Parakeets and fighter jets that would fly above my head at rapid speeds making the most obnoxious noises and how I’d sit for hours and think about all the things I’ve done so far & still hoped to do. Like tomorrow morning's sunrise, the future is coming for all of us...again.

[travelling-around-this-world]

COSTA RICA 🇨🇷

Costa Rica is a country located in Central America that is ranked as one of the most visited international destinations. One of Costa Rica’s main sources of income is tourism. Costa Rica is a democratic and peaceful country and it has not had an army since the year 1948.

Although the country is small and it covers only 0.03 percent of the surface of the globe, it proudly shelters 5 percent of the existing biodiversity in the entire world. Twenty six percent of the country is composed of conservation and natural protected territory.

Furthermore, 2018 has become a magnet for meeting tourism with the opening of the National Congress and Convention Center (CNCC), which can welcome some 4,600 people to its meetings.

FUN FACTS 🔥

It's one of the happiest countries in the world

There is no army!

There are over 500,000 species of wildlife.

Of the 500,000 species, 900 of them are birds

Gallo pinto is a breakfast staple.

There are over 200 volcanic formations

Costa Ricans have a high life expectancy

Its the country with more biodiversity in the World

PURA VIDA

Pura vida, meaning “pure life”, is not only a common greeting, it’s also a state of mind. Pura vida encapsulates the laidback, friendly and welcoming vibe of Costa Ricans.

Everybody will tell you PURA VIDA 💫

1 DAY IN SAN JOSÉ

San Jose is the capital of the Republic of Costa Rica; it is the head of the province. The city is the political and economic center of the country. It crowds together more than half of the commerce and the services. It receives his name in honor to Jose of Nazareth, presumed father of Jesus of Nazareth.

The central corner of San Jose was founded the 7th of December in 1848. The population arises around 1737-1738.It has been Costa Rica's capital three times: in 1822, from 1823 to 1834 and from 1838 to the present time.It is a city with a very interesting mixture of history and modernity; although the center of the zone is almost vacated it becomes a crossing site during the day for more than a million people, which generates a road chaos and an increase of the contamination levels.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT SAN JOSÉ:

One day it's enough for visiting the city

We stayed at HOTEL SURA

Card payments are accepted everywhere

Barrio Amon and Barrio Escalante are the nicest one to walk through

You can easily walk everywhere

Lolita is the perfect place to go eating and to do happy hour

Make sure to rent a 4x4 car. We rented it at Budget 🚙

2 DAYS IN TORTUGUERO

Tortuguero National Park (TNP) is located northeast of Costa Rican territory and is one of the main tourist icons of Costa Rica since it is internationally recognized for protecting the most important green turtles nesting beach in the Western Hemisphere.

Away from the city and made up by an extensive network of rivers and canals, the access is possible only through small boats: this way the Tortuguero National Park is, a place unlike any other; where small communities surrounding Protected Wilderness Area, as Barra del Tortuguero and San Francisco, still retain their traditions and also enjoy the benefit of having the bicycle as their main transportation method, making the travel a true encounter with Caribbean culture.

🌴🐒Flora and fauna

• 734 plant species.

• 442 bird species.

• 138 mammal species (101 genera y 32 families).

• 118 reptile species (76 genera y 22 families).

• 58 amphibian’s species (27 genera y 11 families).

• 460 anthropoid’s species.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT TORTUGUERO:

We stayed at Hotel Icaco, right in front of the beach

You can arrive directly at La Pavona Embarcadero by car and let the car there (it's safe) - you dono have to book the boat in advance

The ride by boat takes 45 minutes

Once there make sure to do the guided KAYAK TOUR (or canoe) - It takes 3 Hours and it really worths, as you can see different types of animals 🛶

Try the restaurant Taylor's - If you Want a really nice (but quite expensive) dinner. It's the only dinner in the restaurant we did.

Watch the sunrise at the beach

2 DAYS IN LA FORTUNA

The La Fortuna region has always been beautiful, but it has not always been this calm. On a clear day, the majestic Arenal Volcano can be seen looming over this peaceful town. La Fortuna’s history is intimately connected with the region’s volcano. Now dormant, there was a time when it was awake and ferocious! On the morning of July 29th, 1968, Arenal Volcano violently erupted — spewing ash, rocks, and gas for three consecutive days. As the smoke cleared, the villages of Tabacón, Pueblo Nuevo, and San Luis were found buried under the debris, with 87 people dead.

Out of this tragedy, La Fortuna (The Fortune) was born as the central town in the Arenal Volcano area. The region has become a successful travel destination, and (like the whole of Costa Rica), is a champion of sustainability. As for Arenal Volcano, it’s now dormant, so you can enjoy its beauty up-close in the Arenal Volcano National Park without being in harm’s way.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT LA FORTUNA:

We stayed at ESSENCE AND SPA ARENAL, super cheap hostel but full of services: yoga, pool, laundry, spa and a delicious vegan cuisine

Make sure to try the HOT SPRINGS. There are also FREE hot Springs on the way to the hostel. Just 10 dollars for the car keepers are required

Walk around and hike the Volcano in the National Park 🌋

Try SODA MIMA and SODA LA COCINA DE MAMÁ. Soda are little trattorie, the best way to eat local, a lot and at a really good price - Skip restaurants!

2 DAYS IN MONTEVERDE

Monteverde is a small town in the mountain ranges of Costa Rica and a major destination for ecotourism in the country. About 3 hours from San Jose, it is one of our top recommended destinations in Costa Rica. Monteverde is the best place to experience a cloud forest. Cloud forests were given their name because you will see a thin veil of clouds just below the canopy. The clouds eventually dissipate into water on the leaves and drip down, watering the plants below. It is breathtaking to see from above.

The three main reserves that protect the sustainability of the cloud forest covered mountains in this part of Costa Rica are the Monteverde Reserve, the Santa Elena Reserve, and the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. A quarter of a million tourists from all over the world come here to explore these biodiverse highlands. There’s a total of 755 tree species there, which means, that one square mile, The Monteverde Cloud Forest can have more species of trees than the entire Unites States of America. Visit Monteverde to experience what Costa Rica is all about: incredible biodiversity and environmental preservation.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT MONTEVERDE:

We stayed at GREEN TREE B&B, an amazing tree house - a unique experience to try

The road to Monteverde is hard - make sure to have a 4x4

On the road to Monteverde you will drive along the LAKE ARENAL. Make sure to do a stop there!

The entrance to the BOSQUE NEBULOSE is 25 dollars - it's a lot but it really worths, as you can do different trails and walk the whole day☁☁

2 DAYS QUEPOS/UVITA

MANUEL ANTONIO

The magic of the beach and the greenery of the forest come together in one place, and the result is a natural paradise. Not in vain the Manuel Antonio National Park is the Protected Wild Area that receives the largest number of national and international tourists.

In addition to beaches, the Park offers a very humid tropical forest where species of flora and fauna in danger of extinction coexist, a mangrove, marine environments, islands and a lagoon of 14 hectares.

In a short trip you can cross several paths that will take you through a primary forest. You will also have stunning views of the sea and you can enjoy the wildlife that is possible to find at any time.

UVITA

Just 1 hour from Manuel Antonio, Uvita is a small town that is easy to get around as it has paved roads throughout. The town has the main entrance to the national park and the beach, there are several restaurants, info centers, tour companies and the cheap hostels and cabinas. For someone who isn’t renting a car, you can stay in town with no problem and be in walking distance to supermarkets, restaurants, the beach, etc.

👉IT'S MUCH BETTER TO STAY IN UVITA THAN IN QUEPOS - less traffic, cheaper and less turists

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT UVITA:

Stay at CASCADA VERDE HOSTEL, best hostel we've been in Costa Rica!

Go to Playa Uvita and Playa Hermosa - and watch the sunset from there ☀

Do the Dolphins and Whales Tour 🐬🐳

Eat a Palmito pizza in El Hornito Restaurant

2 DAYS CORCOVADO

Corcovado National Park is one of the most unique and biodiverse places on the planet and visiting the Peninsula is a real treat for the nature lover. It contains over five percent of the world’s animal population just within that small area, making it a popular ecotourism destination. For example, the national park is said to contain the entire ecosystem of insects that is found between Panama and Mexico. Additionally, National Geographic describes it as the “most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity.”

Corcovado National Park is the backpacking experience of a lifetime. It encompasses the only remaining old growth wet forests on the Pacific coast of Central America, and 13 major ecosystems including lowland rain forest, highland cloud forest, jolillo palm forest, and mangrove swamps, as well as coastal marine and beach habitats.

There is a good chance of spotting some of Costa Rica’s shyest and most endangered inhabitants here; Baird’s Tapirs, Jaguars, Scarlet Macaws, Harpy Eagles, Red-backed squirrel monkeys and White-lipped Peccaries.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT CORCOVADO:

We Stayed at Baya Drake at Corcovado and DRAKE INN - super cheap, with bar, restaurant and swimming pool

Thanks to the hotel, we planned 1 day excursion in the Corcovado National Park. It costs 100 dollars per person but it really worths 🙏

You can arrive to Bahia Drake by boat or with a 4x4. By boat it takes 45 min and it costs 20 dollars

You can reach Corcovado only by boat! The ride is really hardcore - get ready!

[brn1029]

On this date in music history…if you don’t count that yoko….

November 16th

2018 - Scott English

American songwriter Scott English died age 81, due to complications of hip surgery. He is best known as the co-writer of 'Brandy' which he wrote with Richard Kerr. This song became a No. 1 hit for Barry Manilow (renamed as ‘Mandy’) in 1974.

2014 - U2

U2 singer Bono was involved in what doctors called a "high energy bicycle accident." The singer was rushed to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center's emergency department and underwent five hours of surgery. The injury forced the group to postpone a planned weeklong residency on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.

2010 - The Beatles

The Beatles back catalogue was finally made available on iTunes, after years of negotiations. For the first time consumers would now be able to purchase some of the Fab Four's most popular songs via the store. Apple and record label EMI had been in talks for years about getting the catalogue online. Apple chief executive and Beatles fan Steve Jobs said it had "been a long and winding road to get here. We love the Beatles and are honoured and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes."

2006 - Queen

Queen's ‘Greatest Hits’ album was declared the Best Selling UK album of all time by The Official UK Charts Company. The chart which was made up of sales figures from the last fifty years showed their Greatest Hits compilation had sold 5,407,587 copies. The Beatles occupied second place with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.

2002 - The Rolling Stones

Texan multi-billionaire David Bonderman hired The Rolling Stones to play at his 60th birthday party held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The bands fee was £4.4m.

2000 - Elton John

Elton John told a London High Court that his former lover and manager John Reid betrayed him over touring costs. The singer said Reid, had been "caught with his hands in the till". Elton was suing Andrew Haydon, former managing director of John Reid Enterprises, his management company alleging Haydon was negligent in allowing JREL to charge him "several millions" in overseas tour expenses.

1999 - Grady Owen

Grady Owen guitarist with Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps died. Scored the 1956 US No.7 & UK No.16 single with 'Be Bop A Lula'. During his time with the band, Grady can also be seen playing rhythm guitar with the band in the cult classic film Hot Rod Gang.

1996 - The Beatles

The Beatles 'Anthology 3' went to No.1 on the UK album chart. The album included rarities and alternative tracks from the final two years of the band's career, ranging from the initial sessions for The Beatles (also known as The White Album) to the last sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road in later 1969 and early 1970.

1985 - Starship

Starship started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'We Built This City', it made No.12 in the UK.

1985 - U2

U2 launched their own record label 'Mother Records.' The intent was 'to unearth fresh musical talent in Ireland' and the label released several one-off single releases for The Hothouse Flowers, In Tua Nua and Cactus World News amongst others.

1976 - Brian Wilson

Beach Boy Brian Wilson gave his first formal interview for eight years on the UK BBC 2, TV show 'Old Grey Whistle Test.'

1974 - John Lennon

John Lennon was at No.1 in the US singles chart with 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night.' Elton John played on the session and made a deal with Lennon that if the song reached No.1, Lennon would have to appear on stage live with Elton. Lennon kept his side of the deal and appeared live with Elton. They played three songs together: ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ and ‘Whatever Gets You Through the Night.’ Backstage after the concert, Lennon got back with Yoko Ono after a temporary split.

1971 - Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa appeared on this week's UK TV music show the 'Old Grey Whistle Test', playing live and showing clips from his '200 Motels' film.

1968 - Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin played their first ever show in the North of England when they appeared at Manchester College of Science & Technology. Zeppelin were paid £225 for the gig.

1968 - Jimi Hendrix

The Jimi Hendrix Experience went to No.1 on the US album chart with their third and final studio album Electric Ladyland. The double album included ‘Crosstown Traffic,’ ‘Voodoo Chile’ and a version of Bob Dylan's ‘All Along the Watchtower’. Hendrix expressed displeasure and embarrassment with this "naked lady" cover which was banned by several record dealers as "pornographic", while others sold it with the gatefold cover turned inside out.