CaaC (John)

Nigeria wants Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham to play for them rather than England and say the 21-year-old expects to give them a decision by April 2020. Abraham has played for England at friendly level but can switch allegiance as he is yet to play a competitive game. (Express)

That's our daughter learnt her lesson, we try to watch our language in front of children, especially her son, our grandson, wee Kaiden, she was getting off the bus and it was raining heavy here in Scotland and wee Kaiden said to her in front of a load of people "It's pissing down mum...", the daughter said "You must not say that, thats a naughty word!!!!" wee Kaidens reply was "But you say that word, mummy?" Wee Kaiden 1-0 our daughter

Jamaica women's team refuse to train or play in a payment dispute VIDEO Jamaica's women's football team have refused to play or train until further notice after claiming they have not been paid. The decision comes two months after the Reggae Girlz featured in their first-ever Women's World Cup. In a post on Instagram, forward Khadija Shaw said the refusal to play or train was "about more than just money". BBC Sport has contacted the Jamaican Football Federation for a response but has not received a reply. Shaw added: "We are in a position where we are literally fighting just to get paid by legal agreements. "[This is] about change, change in the way women football is viewed, especially in Jamaica. FULL REPORT

Kieran Trippier claims Tottenham sold him to Atletico Madrid 'at the wrong time' despite 'car crash' form Kieran Trippier has suggested that Tottenham were too hasty in selling him to Atletico Madrid despite admitting his form was "like a car crash" following the World Cup. Trippier signed for Spurs in 2015, but it took until the 2016-17 season for the right-back to impress while deputising for Kyle Walker. With Walker sold to Manchester City in summer 2017, Trippier's fine form saw him become a regular for Mauricio Pochettino's side and earn a spot in England's World Cup squad. Trippier's high point came with a stunning free-kick to put England 1-0 up against Croatia in the semi-final, though the Three Lions eventually went on to lose 2-1. FULL REPORT

Mission to deflect asteroid to save the world from future collisions The ESA's concept of how its Hera mission would look. Pic: ESA NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are teaming up for an ambitious mission to use a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid. Researchers and engineers from the two agencies and beyond are meeting in Rome next week to discuss the idea, which they want to prove is a viable method of planetary defence. The so-called Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) would target the smaller body of the double Didymos asteroids orbiting between the Earth and Mars, with one spacecraft dedicated to knocking it off course and another to survey its remains once it crashes. The main body of Didymos measures about 780m across, and its smaller one measures about 160m - slightly bigger than the Great Pyramid of Giza. The smaller body only orbits the main body at a few centimetres per second, making the job of knocking it off course a feasible one. The smaller Didymos asteroid being hit by NASA craft DART, as envisaged by the ESA. Pic: ESA NASA is providing the spacecraft for the first part of the job, and it is due to launch in the summer of 2021. The DART (Double Asteroid Impact Test) craft is scheduled to collide with its target in September 2022, with the moment of impact to be recorded by an Italian-made miniature satellite along for the ride called LICIACube. A close-up examination of whatever is left of the asteroid will be carried out by an ESA vessel called Hera, which will be able to measure its mass and the shape of the crater. Hera will also deploy a pair of mini satellites of its own to carry out the very first radar probe of an asteroid, which could gather information about its terrain. It is hoped that the results obtained by Hera would allow researchers to better model the efficiency of the collision, which could make the asteroid deflection technique a valid option in the event of a real threat. Hera is not as far into its development as DART, with final design work still to be completed before it is approved at an upcoming ESA council conference in November. Its launch would then take place on October 2024 and the journey to its destination would take about two years. Ian Carnelli, manager of the Hera project, said: "DART can perform its mission without Hera - the effect of its impact on the asteroid's orbit will be measurable using Earth ground-based observatories alone. "But flying the two missions together will greatly magnify their overall knowledge return. Hera will, in fact, gather essential data to turn this one-off experiment into an asteroid deflection technique applicable to other asteroids. "Hera will also be the first mission to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system, a mysterious class of object believed to make up around 15% of all known asteroids." Mr Carnelli added that the Hera mission would allow new deep space mini-satellites - which are called CubeSats - to be tested, and provide the ESA with valuable experience of low-gravity operations. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/mission-to-deflect-asteroid-to-save-world-from-future-collisions/ar-AAGJETY?li=BBoPWjQ

Shinji Okazaki: Ex-Leicester forward leaves Malaga after 34 days Former Leicester City forward Shinji Okazaki has left Malaga after 34 days. Reports in Spain say the Japan international, 33, has had his contract cancelled by mutual consent because the Spanish second-tier club are unable to fit his wages within their budget. Okazaki won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016 and left this summer after scoring 19 goals in 137 games. He did not feature in Malaga's three league matches this season and is now a free agent. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49562947

'Mission Jurassic' fossil dinosaur dig closes for winter Three full truckloads of dinosaur fossils were shipped out of the "Mission Jurassic" dig site in North Wyoming as scientists brought the 80-day excavation season to an end. The specimens included skeletal parts from giant herbivorous sauropods and meat-eating theropods. The fossils will now be cleaned to see precisely which species they represent. Mission Jurassic is a major undertaking involving researchers from the US, the UK and the Netherlands. It is led by The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (TCMI) which has taken out a 20-year lease on a square mile (260 hectares) of ranch land. FULL REPORT

I just enjoy coming in here, reading and posting, I am not a young lad anymore and go out around town like I did years before.

@SirBalon drinking jungle juice last night and couldn't find my glasses this morning.

The mysterious prehistoric city built on a coral reef SLIDES - 1/31 The mysterious prehistoric city built on a coral reef In a remote region of the western Pacific Ocean lies a stunning and spooky unsolved mystery: the ruins of the ancient city of Nan Madol. Located next to the eastern shore of Micronesian island Pohnpei, this once-great, prehistoric city is comprised of nearly 100 geometrically shaped man-made stone islands, and it’s the only ancient city built atop a coral reef. No one is sure of the origins, nor why anyone would want to build a city far from food and water, and yet its ruins are rife with stories and spirits. Check out the gallery for a brief tour of the space and travel back in time. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/the-mysterious-prehistoric-city-built-on-a-coral-reef/ss-AAGGFvh

Battle of Worcester artefacts unearthed for the first time Artefacts from the site of the final battle of the English Civil War have been unearthed for the first time. Musket balls, horse harness fittings and belt buckles were found at the Battle of Worcester site in Powick, Worcestershire. Historians have always known the area was the site of the 1651 battle, but it is the first time physical evidence has been recovered. The artefacts will now be analysed and recorded. Archaeologists from Worcestershire County Council were able to explore an area of land close to Powick Church while the Worcester Southern Link Road is being built. They had hoped artefacts might be uncovered as there is shot damage on the church tower, while Powick Bridge was reportedly the location of intense fighting. The 98 finds were found buried deep at the bottom of a river valley, covered by flood deposits accumulated over hundreds of years since the battle. The finds show the battlefield site was further south than previously thought. The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1651. Although usually called the English Civil War, it was a much wider conflict also involving Scotland, Ireland and Wales Richard Bradley, the on-site lead archaeologist, said it was "fantastic" to be able to locate and map physical remains of the battle. "We are just outside the registered battlefield area but this is still a nationally significant site," Mr Bradley said. "The construction work has given us the opportunity to investigate the floodplain across which thousands of infantry and cavalry engaged, and to get down to the level where artefacts were deposited. "Many of the lead musket and pistol balls show evidence of firing or impact and these tangible signs of the conflict offer a poignant connection to the soldiers who fought and died here." Archaeology teams were supported in their work by the construction teams, using their engineering equipment which was already on site. Richard Shaw, chairman of the Battle of Worcester Society, said: "How exciting that 368 years after the Battle of Worcester these artefacts should be discovered. "We are sure that there was fighting at this location on 3rd September 1651. "Parliamentary forces had crossed the river at Upton-upon-Severn and were driving the Royalists back towards Worcester. The discoveries really bring the events of that day to life." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-49551833

Royal Antwerp sign Belgian midfielder Steven Defour, 31, two days after his contract with Burnley was cancelled by mutual consent. (Het Laatste Nieuws - in Dutch)

Brazil midfielder Rafinha Alcantara, 26, signed a contract extension with Barcelona before joining La Liga rivals Celta Vigo on a season-long loan deal. (Marca)

Croatia striker Ante Rebic, 25, has left Eintracht Frankfurt to join AC Milan on a two-year loan deal, with Portuguese forward Andre Silva, 23, heading the other way. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian) Atletico Madrid's Croatia striker Nikola Kalinic, 31, has joined Roma on a season-long loan deal, with the Serie A side sending Czech forward Patrik Schick, 23, on loan to RB Leipzig. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian) Atalanta replaced 34-year-old former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel - whose contract was terminated after just 24 days with the Serie A club - with Denmark centre-back Simon Kjaer, 30, from Sevilla. (Goal)

Weird 'whiplash' planet is unlike anything astronomers have ever seen Astronomers have discovered a giant planet whose extreme orbit makes it, unlike anything they've ever seen. Dubbed HR 5183 b, the exoplanet is at least three times as massive as Jupiter, and it takes a long, looping path around a star that lies about 100 light-years away in the constellation Virgo. If the exoplanet were in our own solar system — in which Earth and the other planets move around the sun in nearly circular orbits — its extremely elliptical orbit would take it from beyond Neptune to within the orbit of Jupiter (see video below). The discovery shows that "our universe is full of lots of weird solar systems totally unlike our own," Sarah Blunt, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and one of the scientists behind the discovery said in an email. "It seems like every time we think we've found the weirdest solar system, something else totally strange is discovered." Blunt, the lead author of a paper about the discovery, called the exoplanet "a wacky object" and likened its movements around its host star, HR 5183, to "whiplash," speeding up as it swoops near the star's intense gravitation, slowing as it moves away and then beginning the cycle all over again. She said other exoplanets with highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbits have been observed but HR 5183 b is the only one known to orbit its host star at such extreme distances. "Something must have interacted with the planet to pump up its eccentricity," she said in the email, adding that one possible scenario was that HR 5183 b once had a neighbouring planet whose gravitation deflected the exoplanet. But it could have been a star that deflected the exoplanet — or "something we haven't thought of yet." The astronomers didn't observe HR 5183 b directly but inferred its size and orbit by observing tiny "wobbles" in light from its host star caused by the changing gravitational pull of an orbiting planet (a technique known as the radial velocity method). The data that led to the discovery came from observations made at the Lick Observatory in Hamilton, California; the Keck Observatory in Waimea on the Island of Hawaii; and the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas. Brendan Bowler, a University of Texas astronomer who wasn't involved in the new research, hailed the discovery, saying the exoplanet's extreme orbit around its star "is telling us something about the outskirts of planetary systems." He called the discovery "a stepping stone" on the path toward "understanding how planets form and to understand their statistical properties." The astronomers behind the discovery aren't done yet with HR 5183 b. Blunt said it might be possible to determine the exoplanet's absolute mass using data from the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory, which aims to produce a detailed census of about 1 million stars. In addition, she said, astronomers might simulate the formation of HR 5183 b to learn more about the conditions that led to such an exoplanet. "There's a lot of next steps for this planet!" she said. Gallery: An exploration of the planets in our Solar System (Photos) SLIDES - 1/25 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/weird-whiplash-planet-is-unlike-anything-astronomers-have-ever-seen/ar-AAGGNsa?ocid=chromentp

Real Madrid are lining up a £64m deadline-day deal for Sporting Lisbon and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes, 24. (Mail) Real will also sign France goalkeeper Alphonso Areola, 26, from Paris St-Germain on Monday, with 32-year-old Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas moving the other way. (Mirror)

Juve has not given up on signing Barcelona's 31-year-old Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic - and could offer Germany midfielder Emre Can, 25, in exchange. (Sport - in Spanish) Frankfurt's 25-year-old Croatia striker Ante Rebic is set to join AC Milan, with 23-year-old Portugal forward Andre Silva heading in the opposite direction. (Goal)

The Most Famous Shipwrecks Still Waiting to Be Discovered SLIDES - 1/13 The Most Famous Shipwrecks Still Waiting to Be Discovered Shipwrecks are the stuff of stuff of movie magic. Nothing makes for better blockbuster fodder than a giant glamorous vessel crashing into an iceberg and sinking to the bottom of the ocean—just ask James Cameron. However, these incidents on the high seas are just as much fact as they are fiction. And while technological advancements and the concerted efforts of treasure hunters have led to the discovery of many of the greatest ships lost at sea (the Titanic included!!), there are still dozens out there. From Christopher Columbus' Santa Maria to "Australia's Titanic," here are some of the most famous shipwrecks that have yet to be discovered. And for more mysteries of the deep, check out these 30 Reasons Why the Ocean Is Scarier Than Space.

Aye, the first primary school teacher I had was a Mrs Lwrence, built like a brick shithouse and when she walked the floors boards would shake and she would walk around hitting us with rulers if she caught us talking, or Mr Weymouth, also built like a brick shithouse and had 3 canes, thick, medium and thin, I have been hit many a time across my hands with them, I hated the thin one, it stung like fuck after he gave you 3 of the best on each hand.

The UK always gets the backlash from one of these for some reason. Hurricane Dorian: Bahamas braces for category four storm The Bahamas is bracing for Hurricane Dorian, which strengthened into a category four storm over the weekend. The "extremely dangerous" storm was expected to hit the island chain on Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, before making landfall on the US east coast. Residents in Grand Bahama were preparing by boarding up businesses and evacuating the storm's predicted path. The storm surge could be as high as 15ft (4.6m), officials warned. Authorities closed some airports in the outlying islands, but the main international airport remains open on Sunday. The storm was on Sunday morning about 125 miles east of the Bahamas' Great Abaco Island, moving westward at 8mph (13km/h) with maximum sustained winds of nearly 145mph (225km/h). After hitting the Bahamas, it was expected to move up the US coast, grazing Florida, which had expected a direct hit but appeared to have been spared the worst by a change in the storm's path. FULL REPORT

'Space lift' could transport astronauts between Earth and the Moon, scientists claim VIDEO Scientists Want To Build A Space Elevator From Earth To Moon (GeoBeats) Scientists have outlined a madcap plan to build an "elevator" between Earth and the Moon, claiming it could drastically reduce the cost of space travel. Known as Spaceline, the elevator would consist of a giant lift shaft tethered to the surface of the Moon, which would dangle down into geostationary orbit around the Earth like a plumb bob. Astronauts lifting off in rockets from Earth would only need enough fuel to reach the end of the Spaceline, where they would be free from Earth's gravity and atmospheric pressure. After that, they would latch onto a solar-powered shuttle, which would transport them the rest of the way to the Moon. The idea has been outlined by researchers from Columbia University and Cambridge University in a paper published to the preprint server ArXiv, "The line becomes a piece of infrastructure, much like an early railroad," Zephyr Penoyre, one of the Columbia astronomy graduate students behind the Spaceline, told Futurism. "The movement of people and supplies along it are much simpler and easier than the same journey in deep space." In the paper, the researchers claim that the elevator shaft could not be built from any existing material, because it would snap before it could be completed. The best material to use would be carbon nanotubes, the researchers claim, but these cannot yet be built to scale. It would need to be extremely narrow at either end, so it didn't collapse under gravitational pressure but thickened at the middle to prevent snapping. The researchers have not yet addressed the risk of space debris in near-Earth orbit colliding with the lift shaft, but claim that there may be ways to protect it. If the space elevator ever becomes a reality, the researchers envision it being used to transport people to orbital telescopes and other man-made structures located between the Earth and the Moon. These structures would hover around Earth at the Lagrange point - the altitude at which the Moon and Earth exert equal-but-opposite gravitational forces. "The Lagrange point is the perfect place to build,” Penoyre told Futurism. "We could (indulging in a little imagination) picture prefabricated panels being sent up the line, and assembled into an ever-growing colony. "I was amazed to find that there are now thousands of people living a significant part of the year in Antarctica - eventually the same could be true of the Lagrange point.” Gallery: Spectacular photos from space (Picture Services) SLIDES - 1/47 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/space-lift-could-transport-astronauts-between-earth-and-the-moon-scientists-claim/ar-AAGBQv2?ocid=chromentp

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has given up on signing winger Ryan Kent, 22, from his former club Liverpool. (Express)

There you go, I have never read the Hobbit but I gather it was a thick volume with lots of pages so if you have read that then start reading books that interest you, fact, fiction, romance, adventure, thrillers etc. Books can relax you, I came out of here last night and went to bed and finished off the Jack Reacher book which I had read a few years back but because I am a Lee Childs/Jack Reacher nutter I finished off reading the book in a day.

Read this a while back so I have started it again, Lee Childs - Jack Reacher - One Shot.