CaaC (John)

Liverpool sign keeper Adrian to replace the departed Simon Mignolet Liverpool has signed former West Ham keeper Adrian to replace Simon Mignolet, who has joined Club Bruges. Adrian, 32, was available on a free transfer having been released by the Hammers during the summer. FULL REPORT Whoops, just seen @IgnisExcubitor has already posted this in a separate thread, my apologies buddy

Treasure Trove Discovered at Egypt’s Atlantis, Where Cleopatra Was Crowned By Candida Moss In Plato’s Critias the fictional city of Atlantis—a rival to ancient Athens—was cursed by the gods, besieged by earthquakes and floods, and disappeared into the ocean. For centuries, people wrote pseudo-histories about the ancient city and its supposed location. According to Stanford professor Dan Edelstein, some of the theories about Atlantis even provided fodder for Nazi mythology. But for all of the interest it generated, Atlantis never actually existed. There were, however, places that suffered its fate. In 1933 British RAF Group-Captain Cull was flying his plane over Aboukir, a Royal Air Force base east of Alexandria in Egypt, when he glimpsed something in the water below him. From his vantage point, Cull could make out the outlines of structures beneath the water. Unbeknownst to him, Cull had located Heracleion, an important ancient Egyptian city that had lain hidden beneath the water for nearly 1500 years. According to legend, this lost metropolis had hosted its namesake, Heracles, and lovers Paris and Helen before they fled to Troy. Cleopatra, Egypt’s most famous queen, had even been crowned in one of the temples there. Before its discovery, Heracleion (which was also known in the ancient world by its Egyptian name, Thonis) was almost the stuff of mythology. Though it is now buried several miles off the coast, Thonis-Heracleion was once a thriving port city. If you were bringing goods into Egypt, this is where your items would be taxed and inspected. The focal point of the city was a huge temple dedicated to the god Amun-Gereb, around which a network of canals snaked and flowed. In between them, small islands housed residences, religious sites, and commercial buildings, almost like an ancient Venice. By the fifth century, Heracleion was no more, its role as Egypt’s main port having been assumed by Alexandria in the second century. According to written records, a steady succession of earthquakes, perhaps as many as 23, struck North Africa between A.D. 323-1303. The most severe occurred in A.D. 365. The coastline fell and the cluster of cities that lay in the Canopic branch of the Nile vanished into the Mediterranean. Even before Cull flew over Heracleion, there had been rumours of underwater ruins for over a century. In 1866 Mahmoud Bey El-Falaki, the official astronomer to the Viceroy of Egypt, had published a map that located the nearby ancient town of the Canopus on the edge of the coastline. But it took nearly 70 years to identify and excavate the area. It was only in 1996, when a team of Egyptian and European archaeologists, working under the leadership of Franck Goddio, founder of the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine, began to truly explore the uncharted waters of the ancient port. It took years to locate Heracleion itself: the team had to start from scratch surveying the seabed, taking soil samples, and collecting geophysical information in an effort to locate archaeological remains. The time and effort paid off. During an underwater expedition in 2000, divers saw a large stone head emerge from the murky dark waters. It was the head of the god Hapi, the personification of the Nile’s annual flood. Speaking to Archaeology.org in 2000, Goddio described the city of Heracleion as “an intact city, frozen in time.” It was almost like a sub-marine Pompeii. In the past few months, divers at Heracleion have discovered what can only be described as a treasure trove of artefacts from the site. Among the recent discoveries are gold jewellery, coins, and a missing piece of a large ceremonial boat that, when complete, measured 43 feet in length and 16 feet across. According to Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, they also discovered two previously unearthed temples: the first was large and included stone columns while the second, smaller temple was crumbling and buried beneath 3 feet of sediment. Goddio and his team discovered the artefacts by using sophisticated underwater scanning tools that can locate and produce images of items buried under the seabed. To date, the excavation has also uncovered 700 anchors, 64 ships, numerous other gold coins, tiny sarcophagi used for the animals that were sacrificed to Amun-Gereb, a number of colossal statues like that of Hapi, and the temple of Amun-Gereb itself. Many of the coins found at Heracleion date to the time of King Ptolemy II, who ruled Egypt from 283 to 246 B.C. Ptolemy II’s father had been a companion and bodyguard of Alexander the Great and he participated in Alexander’s military campaigns in Afghanistan and India. Some have even claimed that Ptolemy I was Alexander’s half-brother. After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., Ptolemy became the governor of Egypt and he and his successors styled themselves as the new pharaohs in Egypt. When Heracleion was first discovered it was the huge statues of Ptolemy II and his queen (and sister), Arsinoe, that helped draw attention to the site. The statues were so large that the ceiling of the British Museum had to be dismantled before they could be exhibited. It is not known exactly which temples were unearthed in this season’s excavation but there are some important candidates that have yet to be discovered. The fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus writes that the Temple of Heracles was a refuge for runaway slaves. Herodotus notes that if a slave took refuge there and had the “sacred marks” set on them it would not be lawful for the slave’s original owner to claim them. According to legend, this practice was instrumental in the history of the Trojan war. Herodotus says that when Paris and Helen arrived in Heracleion, Paris’s attendants became supplicants at the temple. They revealed the whole story about Paris’s deceit of Menelaus and the abduction of Helen. As a result the warden of the city, Thonis, refused Paris and Helen refuge. They would continue their journey to Paris’s hometown of Troy and the rest, as they say, is history. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/treasure-trove-discovered-at-egypts-atlantis-where-cleopatra-was-crowned/ar-AAFkbOI

Every time I see Salah playing he reminds me of Keegan without a beard, could he be another Keegan in the making?

A lot of Americans still think they are living in the Wild, Wild, West with guns & holsters, rifles and a load of Wyatt Earps and Pat Garretts riding around and keeping the peace, the problem nowadays is they still have their guns & holsters, rifles but also Beretta's, Glock M007 handguns etc, M16A4, Mikhail Kalashnikov, AK_47 rifles etc...it's fucking stupid and frightening, and the biggest dick of them all is king of the cowboys and who thinks he is Wyatt Earp reborn is...

Ernesto Valverde has hinted at a number of potential exits at Barcelona this summer, particularly in midfield. "There are quite a few players in midfield," Valverde said after Sunday's win against Arsenal. "We'll see if something happens. I don't know if any sales or signings will be completed." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/49232568

@Harvsky, this guy is really taking the piss Mike Ashley nears deal to buy struggling fashion retailer Jack Wills Money Man Ashley

The wife's name is Elizabeth, not Linda and I am right-handed, not left-handed And I look like a young Cliff Richard

England could lose this now if the rain holds off, Australia declaring and England will have no hope batting over 300 runs to win, the Aussies have their tails up and will fancy bowling England out for a low score.

Barcelona sign Junior Firpo from Real Betis Barcelona has completed the signing of Spain Under-21 left-back Junior Firpo on a five-year contract from Real Betis for a fee which could rise to £27.5m. The Spanish champions have included a £183m buy-out clause in the Dominican-born 22-year-old's contract. Firpo featured in 29 games last season and was part of Spain's U21 European Championship-winning side in June. Barcelona previously signed France forward Antoine Griezmann from rivals Atletico Madrid for £107m in July. Ernesto Valverde's side has also been bolstered by the additions of Frenkie de Jong from Ajax for £65m, goalkeeper Neto from Valencia and defender Emerson from Brazilian side Atletico-MG. On Tuesday, the club sold Brazilian winger Malcom to Zenit St Petersburg for £36.5m after one season at the club. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49226799

Crystal Palace striker Alexander Sorloth joins Trabzonspor on loan Crystal Palace forward Alexander Sorloth has joined Turkish club Trabzonspor on loan until the end of the 2020-21 season. The 23-year-old was on loan at Gent for the second half of last season after signing for them in January. The Eagles bought Sorloth for £9m from Norwegian side FC Midtjylland in January 2018. The Norway international has made 20 appearances for the Selhurst Park side, scoring once in the League Cup. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49227577

AC Milan sign Ismael Bennacer from Empoli AC Milan has signed Algeria midfielder Ismael Bennacer from fellow Italian club Empoli for a reported £14.5m. The 21-year-old has signed a five-year contract with the Serie A side. Bennacer has joined on the back of helping Algeria win the Africa Cup of Nations during the summer, where he was named player of the tournament. He had a spell at Arsenal from 2015 to 2017 before joining Empoli and the Gunners reportedly decided not to take up an option to re-sign him. Bennacer only made one appearance for Arsenal and that outing came as a substitute in a League Cup game. He initially represented France at Under-18 and Under-19 level before opting to play for Algeria from 2016. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49225798

This has all the making of a draw unless England can get Smith out.

Transfer deadline day: When does summer window close around UK & Europe? Clubs around the UK and Europe have been busy in the transfer market so far this summer, but when does deadline day fall in 2019? The Premier League, for the second year in a row, has its transfer deadline the day before the season starts - in this case, Thursday, 8 August at 17:00 BST. The Championship has the same deadline as the top-flight this season. Scottish clubs, England's Leagues One and Two and Europe's top leagues all have a Monday, 2 September deadline. Last season, the English Football League had an earlier deadline for permanent transfers, with clubs allowed to sign loan players until 31 August. But they have changed it this season, with the Championship having a different date to the third and fourth-tiers. The Scottish deadline runs until midnight on 2 September, with the League One and Two ones shutting at 17:00 BST. Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1 all have transfer deadlines at varying times that day. Last season, Italy's top-flight also had a deadline before the season started, but it has reverted to the standard closing time - which is on 2 September this year because 31 August is a Saturday. Premier League clubs can still sell players to other leagues after their voluntary deadline of 8 August, but cannot bring in anybody to replace them past that point. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48965845

Barcelona are preparing to begin talks with Paris St-Germain over bringing Brazil forward Neymar, 27, back to La Liga. (Goal.com) They have also reached an agreement with Real Betis to sign 22-year-old Spain Under-21 defender Junior Firpo for £22m. (ESPN)

Real Madrid has reached an agreement with 22-year-old Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek, but are yet to agree on a fee with his club Ajax.(Marca)

@Tommy

Shiver...imagine looking around and seeing that big eye looking at you...yipes 'Monster' Shark Bigger Than a Submarine Filmed by Scientists As It Tries to Eat Their Gun Aristos Georgiou © OceanX Bluntnose sixgill biting off bait during an OceanX tagging mission. A team of researchers has captured incredible footage of a close encounter with an ancient species of shark known as the bluntnose sixgill. The team, led by Dean Grubbs, from Florida State University, were conducting dives in a submersible called "Nadir" as part of an expedition organized by OceanX to tag one of the sharks in their deep-sea environment. During one of the dives, the team were fortunate to come up close and personal with a huge female bluntnose—=one of the largest sharks in the world—which one of the researchers in the video can be heard describing as "definitely bigger than the sub is long." The sub crew were left in a state of awe by the encounter: "My goodness that is amazing," one of the team comments, while another can be heard saying, "This is a monster. She is huge." At one point the shark even tries to nibble on the speargun attached to Nadir. The bluntnose (Hexanchus griseus) is part of an old lineage of sharks that can be traced back 180 million years in the fossil record. In fact, it represents perhaps the oldest living lineage of sharks in the world, the researchers say. They are highly distinctive due to the fact that they have six large conspicuous gill slits, hence the name. Most sharks only have five. "They have a single dorsal fin that is placed far back on the midline near the tail," Gavin Naylor, one of the scientists on the expedition from the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History, told Newsweek. "They are reported to grow to over 5 meters [16 feet] long and weigh more than a ton. They are live-bearing. Females can have over 80 pups in a litter. They are likely primarily carrion feeders, but may also take live prey when the opportunity arises. Females are larger than males." Bluntnose sixgills are distributed across tropical and temperate waters around the world usually living at depths of between 650 and 3,300 feet, although they have been spotted up to 5,000 feet below the surface. However, researchers know very little about this mysterious species. Tagging them could enable scientists to learn more about their biology and behaviour, and protect them from threats. "Approximately half of all living species of sharks on the planet live their entire lives in the deep sea," Grubbs told Newsweek. "Yet we know virtually nothing about their biology and ecology. Contrast this with the volumes of scientific information on species like white sharks and tiger sharks. Yet as commercial fisheries globally move deeper, deep-sea sharks are being increasingly caught, particularly as bycatch." "It is often assumed that these deep-sea sharks would die if released," he said. "We began this project in 2005 to begin investigating whether deep-sea sharks caught and brought to the surface survive if released. Since this time we have tagged more than 20 bluntnose sixgill sharks with archiving satellite tags and another 50 with simple identification tags. But all of these were tagged by bringing the sharks to the surface and tagging them alongside the boat or even bringing them onto the deck of the ship." This tagging revealed to the researchers that nearly all bluntnose six gills survive being caught and brought to the surface. Furthermore, the data showed, intriguingly, that these sharks vertically migrate every day and night. "At dusk they come up the slope sometimes in the water column to shallower depths where the water temperature is about 62 degrees Fahrenheit, remaining there overnight, and then at dawn, they return to deeper depths where temperatures are 41 degrees Fahrenheit," Grubbs said. "In Exuma Sound [the Bahamas,] this corresponds to coming up to 400-500 meters [1,312-1,640 feet] deep at night and remaining at 900-1200 meters [2,952-3,937 feet] during the day. This is a beautifully consistent vertical pattern the sharks undergo every day." "However, one of the things we noticed is that across all of these sharks there was an initial period of about two days after tagging where the sharks did not show this pattern and seemed to behave a bit more erratically, and then they settled into that distinct vertical migration every day after that," he said. "We interpreted that erratic phase as a possible recovery period due to short term physiological stress associated with being captured and brought to the surface." This stress could be enough to temporarily alter this behaviour, even though the sharks seemed to tolerate being brought to the surface. This finding is what led the team to try and tag a bluntnose in the deep-sea instead. "So how do we test the theory that this initial difference in behaviour represents recovery from capture?" Grubbs said. "We go directly to the sharks in their natural habitat and tag them at depth. This drove our efforts to attempt to tag these sharks at depth. We made three expeditions and many dives spending many hours sitting on the bottom trying to get the sharks to come in and then trying to tag them. We came very close numerous times but never quite had the right shot, or in one case, the shark knocked the spear off the gun and dislodged the tag! But finally, on the last dive on this last expedition [in Exuma Sound,] my colleague Gavin Naylor successfully tagged a sixgill from the sub!" This tag will remain on the shark for 3 months, before detaching, floating to the surface and uploading the data it has collected via satellite link to a processing centre where it can be analyzed. "If our theory is correct, we expect to see the same vertical migration behaviour as the other sharks demonstrated but without the initial two days of erratic behaviour," Grubbs said. "Unfortunately, we have to wait impatiently to hear from that tag!" Currently, the worldwide population of bluntnose sixgills is unknown but they are listed as "Near Threatened" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. Nevertheless, the researchers suggest that they are perhaps more common than previously appreciated. "Finding a six-gill shark at depth turned out to be much less of a challenge than many had imagined," Gaylor said. "They seem reasonably common. Finding a marine biologist willing to go down in a submarine to try to tag a six-gill at depth was the easiest part!" https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/monster-shark-bigger-than-a-submarine-filmed-by-scientists-as-it-tries-to-eat-their-gun/ar-AAFfShR

Milky Way galaxy is warped and twisted, not flat Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is "warped and twisted" and not flat as previously thought, new research shows. Analysis of the brightest stars in the galaxy shows that they do not lie on a flat plane as shown in academic texts and popular science books. Astronomers from Warsaw University speculate that it might have been bent out of shape by past interactions with nearby galaxies. The new three-dimensional map has been published in the journal Science. The popular picture of the Milky way as the flat disc is based on the observation of 2.5 million stars out of a possible 2.5 billion. The artists' impressions are therefore rough approximations of the truer shape of our galaxy, according to Dr Dorota Skowron of Warsaw University. "The internal structure and history of the Milky Way is still far from being understood, in part because it is extremely difficult to measure distances to stars at the outer regions of our galaxy," she said. More stories like this: 'Book of the heavens' takes shape Exact colour of Milky Way found Telescope spots galactic 'mega-merger'r This enables astronomers to calculate their distance with great precision. Most of the stars were identified by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) at Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in Chile's southern Atacama Desert. Przemek Mroz, a member of the OGLE team, said that the results were surprising. "Our results show that the Milky Way Galaxy is not flat. It is warped and twisted far away from the galactic centre. Warping may have happened through past interactions with satellite galaxies, intergalactic gas or dark matter (invisible material present in galaxies about which little is known)." The Polish results support an analysis of Cepheid variable stars published in February in Nature Astronomy journal by astronomers from Macquarie University in Australia and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49182184

We have the council yearly gas boiler check this morning sometime after 08.00am, I am walking around at the moment with a t-shirt on, a pair of old tracksuit bottoms on where I have cut the legs off and made them into shorts (because there were holes in the knees) haven't shaved top front teeth out and no socks on but still wearing slippers, the wife said "You know the gas guy/girl is calling this morning, you gonna walk around like that?" me, "What...you want me to put a suit and tie on?"...that...did not go down well with the wife, burnt tea tonight I gather...whoops

Henry Cavill Talks About How They Made The Look Of Geralt In ‘The Witcher’ POSTED AUGUST 1ST, 2019 BY STUART CONOVER Fans of ‘The Witcher‘ have a very specific idea of what Geralt should look like in the series and Henry Cavill (‘Man of Steel’) has shared how they ensured the look would be just right. While many fans of the series are coming from the video games, we know that showrunner Lauren S Hissrich plans on staying true to its roots and follow the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. We have the description in the book, and Lauren [S. Hissrich, The Witcher’s showrunner,] and I went through many conversations via email and phone before we even met for the third time, because we had the first meeting, then an audition, and then we saw each other on location. We were just it was all about eyes and hair, and the hair took a long time — we had to get the wig right — which took some amazing work by Jackie, who […] does my hair work. It was tricky. We had to get the skin tone right as well, and Alva who does my makeup worked really hard on that and just found that right balance. We went through plenty of tests […], and we finally settled on something which I think we were all really happy with. Wearing the contacts was one thing, you had to wear them for three hours at a time, and then take them out. So it was… I look really badass, but my eyes hurt a little bit. But it definitely helps you get into character. When you’re wearing all that getup, it’s just a short step to Geralt from there.” It sounds like the contacts, in particular, might not have been the most comfortable part of getting ready for the role; thankfully, Cavill is no stranger in wearing costumes on set. Hopefully, over time, he’ll get used to them, or they’ll become more comfortable as Netflix is rumoured to have already given the series the green light to develop multiple seasons. You can hear what Cavill had to say about becoming Geralt in his own words right here: https://sciencefiction.com/2019/08/01/henry-cavill-talks-about-how-they-made-the-look-of-geralt-in-the-witcher/

Liverpool sell Melwood training ground 'with heavy heart' Liverpool have completed the sale of their training ground to an affordable housing provider, the club's vice-president has said. The club announced it would leave Melwood in West Derby and move to a new £50m first team and academy training site in Kirkby in 2017. They would leave with "a heavy heart" as it had played "a significant role in the club's history", Andy Hughes said. Not-for-profit trust Torus has bought the site for an undisclosed fee. The organisation has 1,600 properties in the surrounding area and manages around 40,000 properties in the region. 'Incredibly historical site' Harry Doyle, the Labour councillor for Knotty Ash, said he was "really disappointed" and claimed the club had "turned their back on what could have been a fantastic legacy". He added that the local community were "disappointed and angry" at the decision to sell. Torus managing director Chris Bowen said being selected to develop the site "means a great deal to us". "We look forward to meeting with the community in due course [and] we will also be working closely with LFC to ensure the legacy of this incredibly historical site is a theme throughout." Mr Hughes said all funds from the sale would be invested in Liverpool's squad and the new training centre. Work on the Kirkby site started in summer 2018 and is expected to be completed in summer 2020, with the first team taking up residence from the start of the 2020/21 season. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-49191871

AI system 'should be recognised as an inventor' An artificial intelligence system should be recognised as the inventor of two ideas in patents filed on its behalf, a team of academics says. The AI has designed interlocking food containers that are easy for robots to grasp and a warning light that flashes in a rhythm that is hard to ignore. Patents offices insist innovations are attributed to humans - to avoid legal complications that would arise if corporate inventorship were recognised. The academics say this is "outdated". And it could see patent offices refusing to assign any intellectual property rights for AI-generated creations. As a result, two professors from the University of Surrey have teamed up with the Missouri-based inventor of Dabus AI to file patents in the system's name with the relevant authorities in the UK, Europe and US. 'Inventive act' Dabus was previously best known for creating surreal art thanks to the way "noise" is mixed into its neural networks to help generate unusual ideas. Unlike some machine-learning systems, Dabus has not been trained to solve particular problems. Instead, it seeks to devise and develop new ideas - "what is traditionally considered the mental part of the inventive act", according to creator Stephen Thaler The first patent describes a food container that uses fractal designs to create pits and bulges in its sides. One benefit is that several containers can be fitted together more tightly to help them be transported safely. Another is that it should be easier for robotic arms to pick them up and grip them. The second describes a lamp designed to flicker in a rhythm in a rhythm mimicking patterns of neural activity that accompany the formation of ideas, making it more difficult to ignore. Law professor Ryan Abbott told BBC News: "These days, you commonly have AIs writing books and taking pictures - but if you don't have a traditional author, you cannot get copyright protection in the US. "So with patents, a patent office might say, 'If you don't have someone who traditionally meets human-inventorship criteria, there is nothing you can get a patent on.' "In which case, if AI is going to be how we're inventing things in the future, the whole intellectual property system will fail to work." Instead, he suggested, an AI should be recognised as being the inventor and whoever the AI belonged to should be the patent's owner, unless they sold it on. However, Prof Abbott acknowledged lawmakers might need to get involved to settle the matter and that it could take until the mid-2020s to resolve the issue. A spokeswoman for the European Patent Office indicated that it would be a complex matter. "It is a global consensus that an inventor can only be a person who makes a contribution to the invention's conception in the form of devising an idea or a plan in the mind," she explained. "The current state of technological development suggests that, for the foreseeable future, AI is... a tool used by a human inventor. "Any change... [would] have implications reaching far beyond patent law, ie to authors' rights under copyright laws, civil liability and data protection. "The EPO is, of course, aware of discussions in interested circles and the wider public about whether AI could qualify as an inventor." The UK's Patents Act 1977 currently requires an inventor to be a person, but the Intellectual Property Office is aware of the issue. "The government believes that AI technology could increase the UK's GDP by 10% in the next decade, and the IPO is focused on responding to the challenges that come with this growth," said a spokeswoman. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49191645