CaaC (John)

Inter Milan and Juventus officials have made first contact over a potential swap deal involving their Argentine forward Mauro Icardi, 26, and Paulo Dybala, 25. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian) Italian giants, Sampdoria want to sign Swansea's Ghana international winger Andre Ayew, 29, on loan before the European transfer window closes. (Star)

Inter Milan may turn to former Manchester City forward Wilfried Bony, the 30-year-old Ivory Coast international currently without a club having been released by Swansea in the summer. (Goal.com)

Pumice island size of Manhattan floating in Pacific An underwater volcano is the likely source of a pumice stone island, the size of Manhattan, which has formed in the Pacific. The huge mass of stone, near to Tonga, has been floating through the Pacific for the last two weeks and follows reports of plumes of smoke from the direction of a named submarine volcano. But NASA reports that volcanologists at the Smithsonian in the US believe the pumice raft could be from an unnamed volcano, which hasn't had a reported explosion since 2001. The NASA Earth Observatory wrote: "On August 13, 2019, the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 acquired natural-colour imagery of a vast pumice raft floating in the tropical Pacific Ocean near Late Island in the Kingdom of Tonga. "NASA's Terra satellite detected the mass of floating rock on August 9; the discoloured water around the pumice suggests that the submarine volcano lies somewhere below. "By August 13, the raft had drifted southwest. As of August 22, the raft had moved north again and was a bit more dispersed, but still visible." Shannon Lenz, who sailed through the field of various size rocks making up the pumice island, wrote: "We sailed through a pumice field for six to eight hours, much of the time there was no visible water. "It was like ploughing through a field. We figured the pumice was at least 6 inches thick." Michael Hoult and Larissa Brill, who were sailing to Fiji in a catamaran, passed the raft and logged a detailed explanation of what they saw on Facebook. They said: "We had heard the previous day on email of "pumice fields" 50NM North of Vava'u. We saw none as we rounded North of Vava'u earlier in the day on our route ex Bora Bora. "Sailing on 255T we started seeing some floating rocks of random sizes (marbles to tennis balls) from position 18 46' S 174 55'W. "We reduced sail to slow our speed." They reported a smell of sulphur and started to see and strike larger rocks as they sailed through. The pair reported seeing rocks the size of basketballs and have passed on a warning to other boats sailing in the same areas to travel as slowly as possible. According to Scott Bryan of Queensland University, the travelling pumice stones may help the Australian Great Barrier Reef to recover. He told The Guardian: "Based on past pumice raft events we have studied over the last 20 years, it's going to bring new healthy corals and other reef dwellers to the Great Barrier Reef. "Each piece of pumice is a rafting vehicle. It's a home and a vehicle for marine organisms to attach and hitch a ride across the deep ocean to get to Australia." Writing on Discover Magazine's blog, Volcanologist Erik Klemetti of Denison University said: "Pumice rafts can drift for weeks to years, slowly dispersing into the ocean currents. These chunks of pumice end up making excellent, drifting homes for sea organisms, helping them spread. "The erupted pumice means this volcano erupts magma high in silica like rhyolite." The raft is about 150 square km, and events similar to this happen about every five years. Gallery: Earth from space: Spectacular volcanic eruptions seen from above (Espresso) SLIDES - 1/21 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/pumice-island-size-of-manhattan-floating-in-pacific/ar-AAGmTPC?ocid=chromentp

Edit. Forget this post, my spacings fucked up so I had to edit and delete.

Bluewolf That has to be a NASA fail surely?? I can imagine us all coming in to dock with the alien Mothership on an unknown hostile planet and someone says to Nudge "have you locked the docking co-ordinates in" and she is all... "er... What?? I knew I forgot something.." 

Pluto is a planet, Nasa chief says Pluto’s status as a planet has once again been called into question after the head of Nasa said he believed the celestial body to be a planet. Speaking at the FIRST Robotics event in Oklahoma, Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine went against convention by placing himself firmly on one side of the Pluto debate. “Just so you know, in my view Pluto is a planet,” he said. “You can write that the Nasa administrator declared Pluto a planet once again. I’m sticking by that, it’s the way I learned it and I’m committed to it.” Pluto was first declared a planet in 1930 after it was discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. At the time it was believed to be the ninth planet from the Sun, existing on the outer edges of the solar system in the Kuiper belt. Its status as a planet was called into question 62 years later after other similarly-sized objects were discovered in the same region of space. In 2005, astronomers discovered a dwarf planet called Eris that was 27 per cent larger than Pluto. A year later, the International Astronomical Union laid out its official definition for what constituted a planet. Pluto was not included. Gallery: The most impressive photos from Nasa (Expresso) SLIDES - 1/21 Since then it has been classified as a dwarf planet, though the icy object has attracted a dedicated following of people who claim Pluto should be considered a planet. In 2015 Nasa’s New Horizons mission to Pluto made several major discoveries that added fuel to the debate. Alan Stern, the Nasa scientist who led the New Horizons mission, subsequently co-authored a paper calling for Pluto to be reclassified. The planet Pluto is pictured in a handout image made up of four images from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) taken in July 2015 combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view. “Pluto’s status as a planet has sparked the human imagination for decades... Now is not the time to downgrade Pluto’s status.” https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/pluto-is-a-planet-nasa-chief-says/ar-AAGmthj?ocid=chromentp

I think that's where I came unstuck on 3 of them but...I did it again but I did a 007 and cheated a wee bit, I said I was 44 years old, 6ft tall and spoke fluent Russian and improved, cough, cough...

I'll sneak a ride

I tried it again and got %45 this time but when I read this I was happy a wee bit... "You still have some things to work on before you meet NASA's requirements. But don't feel bad - the odds of you making it to space are pretty slim anyway. The agency received 18,300 applications in 2017 and only ended up selecting 12 candidates to take on for training at the Johnson Space Center."

I blame @Tommy and the Mafia they are out to get me and muddled my brain up

I flunked... must be old age...hang on... I will get my coat

@nudge, how can we take the test without the link?

Aye, I hope lol, Nah I think we will be ok but I wish the fuck DeGea would sign this new contract or fuck off so we can get another keeper settled in and if Pogba does not pull his finger out and stop playing hot and cold matches he can fuck off too with the likes of Jones, Young and Smalling and you can now throw Lingard in amongst all that lot. Saying all that I wish the Glazers would fuck off too and take Woody Woodpecker with him, that guy could not pick his own nose without sticking a finger in his eye let alone pick a decent mid-fielder in the market, someone not like Pogba.

Over to you @Teso dos Bichos, I know you love @Happy Blue

Wouldnt say we are world-class but you would say that seeing he is on loan from Leicester He is certainly making the mid-field spot his own and Gerrard has the team ticking over well and I fancy us beating Celtic under Lennon, but stop the Hoops James Forrest and keep him tagged we just might do well, and Gerrard doesn't play the little we animal in Morelos who is a red card waiting especially with the Hoops Scot Brown playing who will undoubtedly tag him with niggly tackles and try and make him see red, I like Jermain Defoe since Gerrard got him on loan and Liverpool's Sheyi Ojo on loan too.

? I am a Rangers man here in Scotland and you never get a better Derby than the Gers and the Hoops at either Ibrox or Celtic Park, Gerrard is now getting Rangers ticking over.

We joined the club then Top six sides @CPFC have beaten away from home in last 9 Months: ManCity Etihad Stadium Arsenal Emirates Stadium ManUtd Old Trafford Giant Killers. https://twitter.com/Sporf/status/1165594851225886722

The daughter said that wee Kaiden has fallen in love with Badger as he said "She is more cuddly and older"

Fucking unreal that, watch the media next, sack Root as Captain and replace him with Stokes, tbh I was only keeping check of the score and left it when Bairstow got out and thought that was it for England then checked back in and saw England needing 8 more runs to win with one wicket remaining, phew. England will more than likely lose the next test and the last one will be rained off or vice-versa. Media. Sack Root as captain and replace him with Stokes Media. Rise Sir Stokes, knight him, please.

Misty humid morning here in Leith when I went up to the shop's but now the mist has lifted and the sun is shining like a beauty. Leith Links Leith Cemeteries & War Graves

Archaeologists remain baffled by a 1,000-year-old skeleton discovered in 1928 which was used by Nazis and the Soviet Union as propaganda - as new study offers no clues SLIDES - 1/8 A skeleton from the Middle Ages that was first discovered inside Prague Castle in 1928 and then used as gruesome Nazi propaganda continues to baffle scientists. The man who lived during the 10th century was buried with a sword and two knives have long been the focal point of a debate that rages between warring academics. No agreement has been found among experts as to who or what the individual was, despite Hitler's government claiming the remains 'proved' the castle was Germanic. The skeleton made another bizarre appearance later when the Soviets tried to pull the same trick the Nazis and claim it was of Soviet origin. The latest analysis says it could be a Slav from a neighbouring region, 'who had mastered Old Norse as well as Slavonic' or he may have been a legitimate Viking. SLIDES - 1/8 A new study published in the journal Antiquity looked at all previous analysis and theories to try and reach a conclusion. However, the authors failed to bring any clarity to the murky picture. The authors could not conclude for definite the origin of the bones but were able to give some clarity to possible explanations. They write: '[The] material culture is a mix of foreign (i.e. non-Czech) items, such as the sword, axe and 'fire striker' (a common piece of Viking equipment), and domestic objects, such as the bucket and the knives'. They also reveal that the sword is especially unique as it is the only one discovered in 1,500 early medieval graves so far found in Prague Castle. Related Slideshow: 16 of history's greatest unsolved mysteries (Provided by Photo Services) SLIDES - 1/16 It is possible, they say, that the individual was a Slav from a neighbouring region, 'who had mastered Old Norse as well as Slavonic' or he may have been a legitimate Viking. On 11 July 1928, the remains of a male were discovered under the courtyard of Prague Castle. A project to excavate the region led by the National Museum intended to study the earliest phases of the Castle stumbled across the skeleton for the first time. The body was located on the edge of an old burial ground from when a hill fort was built on the site, likely dating to AD 800–950/1000. It had a number of weapons, including a sword, located in the grave with the remains. THE HISTORY OF THE PRAGUE CASTLE SKELETON It was discovered by Ivan Borkovský on July 11 1982. The true identity was unknown and the discoverer opted not to publish his findings. It is possible he was concerned with the progress of his application for Czech citizenship. This decision proved fateful when the Nazis invaded. Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 and seized Prague Castle, and the skeleton, and claimed it was German in order to further the Nazi ideology. The nation then came under the control of the Soviets in 1945. They tried a similar tactic with the skeleton. His true origin is unknown, but his burial with weapons and some analysis has found he may have been a Slav from a neighbouring region, 'who had mastered Old Norse as well as Slavonic' or he may have been a legitimate Viking. It was discovered by Ivan Borkovský, a Ukrainian who fought for both the Austro-Hungarians and the Russians in the early 20th century. Nazi soldiers invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 and the discoverer became embroiled in a scandal and accusations were fired at him that he conspired to conceal the skeleton's true identity. Nazi's claimed the remains were Germanic, or maybe Viking, but certainly not Slavic. The Nazis pushed this unfounded ideology to add credence to their claim that German heritage was a real thing which spread over established borders of space and time. The unwitting remains became part of a larger rhetoric which claimed Prague Castle, a national landmark, belonged to Germany. Mr Borkovský is thought to have attempted to publish his analysis but was threatened with imprisonment in a concentration camp if he did so. The tale of the discoverer became almost as enthralling as the skeleton's story itself when Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Soviets and in 1945. His anti-communist past condemned him to a Siberian gulag, but he narrowly escaped and fled the country. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/archaeologists-remain-baffled-by-a-1000-year-old-skeleton-discovered-in-1928-which-was-used-by-nazis-and-the-soviet-union-as-propaganda-as-new-study-offers-no-clues/ar-AAGgwvH

Nasa investigates space crime after ‘astronaut accesses partner’s bank account while on International Space Station’ Nasa is investigating claims ones of its astronauts accessed their estranged partner’s bank account while onboard the International Space Station, it has been reported. The New York Times reported that Nasa is examining what could be the first allegation of a crime committed in space. Astronaut Anne McClain has acknowledged accessing the bank account of her ex-partner Summer Worden while on the space station. However, she denies any wrongdoing and insists she was checking her former spouse had enough money to pay for the care of Ms Worden’s son, who the pair had been raising together before their break-up. Ms Worden has reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Ms McClain has since returned to Earth. The astronaut’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, told the New York Times: “She strenuously denies that she did anything improper.” Ms Worden, an Air Force intelligence officer, married Ms McClain in 2014 but then filed for divorce in 2018. She has been contacted about her allegation by Nasa’s Office of Inspector General, it was reported. Gallery: World marks 50 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing (Deutsche Welle) SLIDES - 1/8 Ms McClain started flying for Nasa in 2013 following more than 800 combat hours over Iraq as an army pilot. She spent six months on the International Space Station and was scheduled to take part in the first all-female spacewalk with Christina Koch earlier this year, but it was cancelled because there was only one medium-size spacesuit available. The International Space Station is owned by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, and the laws of each apply to those on board depending on their nationality. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nasa-investigates-space-crime-after-astronaut-accesses-partners-bank-account-while-on-international-space-station/ar-AAGgGBJ?ocid=chromentp