Government of jammu and kashmir has released notification and hereby ordered that Government Order No. 57- JK(GAD) of 2023 dated 16.01.2023 in so far as it relates to transfer and posting of Mr. Natyapal Singh, Assistant Information Officer in the office of Joint Director, Information, Jammu, as Public Relation Officer, Jammu Municipal Corporation is cancelled ab-initio. By order of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.
SRINAGAR: The Jammu-Srinagar Highway has been closed for vehicular traffic due to shooting stones at Panthyal on Saturday, officials said.
“Traffic movement stopped from both ends on Jammu Srinagar NHW in view of road blocked at Panthyal due to continuous shooting stones,” Traffic police said in a tweet.
When archaeologists working on the route of HS2 began excavating a stretch of pasture in Warwickshire, they were not expecting to uncover what one of them calls “the highlight of our careers”. Their excavations revealed the monumental stone bases of two towers from a late medieval fortified gatehouse, the existence of which had been completely lost to history.
While that find was remarkable in itself, the ruins were even more significant than they first appeared – and might even rewrite the history of the English civil war.
Peppering the sandstone walls were hundreds of pockmarks made by musket balls and pistol shot, showing that the building had come under heavy fire. Experts think this may be evidence that the gatehouse was shot at by parliamentarian troops heading to the nearby Battle of Curdworth Bridge in August 1642, which would make this the scene of the very first skirmish of the civil war.
The finds were “a real shock”, said Stuart Pierson of Wessex Archaeology, who led excavations on the site. “The best way to describe it is that we were just in awe of this tower.
“People always say that you want to find gold in archaeology, but I think for a lot of us finding that tower will always be better than finding gold. I think it’s the highlight of our careers finding that, and I don’t think we’re going to find anything like that again.”
Musket ball impact marks on the outside wall of Coleshill gatehouse. Photograph: HS2/PA
The team knew that a large Tudor manor house had stood somewhere near the site at Coleshill, east of Birmingham, but its location had been lost. As they started excavating, they were astonished at the state of preservation of its vast ornamental gardens – larger in scale than at Hampton Court.
Pierson had said to colleagues that he expected there might be the remains of a gatehouse, “but we figured a small box structure. We weren’t thinking anything involving towers.” He was on holiday when the first walls were uncovered. “My colleagues say their favourite memory from the site was my expression when I [returned and] saw this complete tower,” he said.
Taken together, the finds make the site “nationally significant – and a bit more”, he added.
In the lead up to the civil war, which pitched forces loyal to King Charles I against parliamentarian soldiers seeking to topple him, Coleshill Manor was in the hands of a royalist, Simon Digby. The position of his grand home, next to a key strategic crossing of the River Cole, would have put it directly in the path of parliamentarians on the march to Curdworth Bridge. While it is impossible to prove, experts think it is highly likely that it is their musket balls – dozens of which were recovered from the site – which struck the gatehouse on this journey.
While the discovery potentially rewrites the history of the start of the civil war, Pierson said, it can also tell us more about the experience of those living through it. “What it gives us is a more personal [insight] to the civil war. There are always stories about royalty and the lead parliamentarians, but there’s not so much focus given to the people themselves, even the upper classes who found themselves involved but weren’t necessarily really part of it.”
The discovery features on Digging for Britain on BBC Two at 8pm on Sunday 22 January.
[ad_2]
#finding #gold #towers #remains #rewrite #history #English #civil #war
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Perhaps nothing sums up the legacy of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings as neatly as a certain Dr Pepper commercial.
In the 30-second spot, a staple of live sports, a group of friends gather to watch a college football game – but, gasp, the TV has disconnected from the streaming service. A mad scramble ensues to track down a paper slip with the password and painstakingly enter it via arrows on a remote. Once they are logged back in, the room exhales, but not before one fan vents his frustration. “I miss basic cable,” he huffs.
During a company earnings call on Thursday, Hastings, 62, announced that he would be relinquishing his daily role as Netflix co-CEO to COO Greg Peters, who will continue working alongside the company’s content chief, Ted Sarandos. The changing of the guard marks the end of an era for the streaming giant, which wouldn’t be an industry leader and cultural force without Hastings – who will continue as the company’s executive chairman.
His departure was revealed in an otherwise mixed bag of a call on which Netflix touted an uptick in subscribers; this is after the company lost almost 1.2 million subscribers in the first half of 2022 and blamed account-sharing. In fact, the competition among streaming services has never been more intense, running the gamut from HBO Max to Amazon Prime to the NFL+. But none of them would exist if Netflix hadn’t come along.
Hastings didn’t set out to take over the entertainment industry when he founded the company with Marc Randolph in the summer of 1997. Hastings, a computer scientist and mathematician, claims the idea was born out of panic – that he was six weeks late returning a VHS rental of Apollo 13 and was struggling with how to explain the $40 late fee to his wife. He wondered why video rentals couldn’t work like a gym membership, where subscribers watched as little or as much they wanted. Randolph counters that he and Hastings hatched the idea for Netflix together.
The business they eventually launched was like some weird Columbia House derivative – a service that allowed customers to browse an online catalogue and rent movies by mail for a subscription fee. This was heady stuff for the turn of the century, when there was at least one video store in every neighborhood and Amazon was just a humble bookseller.
Hastings, who would invest $2.5m into the startup from a software company he founded and sold, didn’t expect many to sign up for his library of 925 titles. But people took to it so eagerly that two months later, Jeff Bezos offered to buy the business out from under Hastings and Randolph for $16m. In September 2000, after the dotcom crash stymied growth, Hastings and Randolph nearly sold Netflix again to Blockbuster for $50m; Blockbuster, convinced the offer was a joke, declined.
For the price of a frou-frou Starbucks drink, a Netflix subscriber could binge this content ad nauseam without suffering through a single commercial. Photograph: Adrien Fillon/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
Not long after, Netflix was shipping a million DVDs per day, racking up more than $500m in revenue and putting Blockbuster and mom-and-pop video stores out of business. Before Amazon, an online shopping leviathan by this point, could horn in on Netflix’s market share, Hastings, inspired by YouTube, pushed the company to branch into streaming video. In short order, its library mushroomed from 1,000 titles to nearly 6,000 in the US alone. Under Hastings, Netflix went from signing content distribution deals with television and film companies to making original content.
For the price of a frou-frou Starbucks drink, a Netflix subscriber could binge this content ad nauseam without suffering through a single commercial – the ideal home viewing experience.
Hastings helped turn Netflix into a one-stop shop. It streamed hot movies within weeks of their box office debuts, as well as hit original TV series including Orange Is the New Black and cherished network mainstays like The Office. It had Samsung and Sony rushing to integrate Netflix and other major streamers into their TV menus. Before Netflix, we were taxed for receiver boxes, bogged down with too many remote controls and at the mercy of customer support from Time Warner and the like. It took Hastings to show us that TV didn’t have to be so complicated. It could even be on a phone or a tablet.
Unfortunately for Hastings, Netflix became a victim of its success. It not only prompted Hollywood studios to get into the streaming business, but tech rivals like Amazon and Apple, too. Where Netflix was once the only name in streaming, now it’s one in a smattering of options and hardly the best of the bunch any more.
As Netflix grew and made Hastings a billionaire, he would struggle to navigate criticism for pulling an episode of the topical comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj in which the host roasted the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and for continuing to bankroll Dave Chappelle and other comedians who court controversy in their standup specials. Hastings’s response – “We’re not trying to do truth to power. We’re trying to entertain” – only made him seem like another out-of-touch corporate tycoon.
As Silicon Valley leaders go, Hastings is more Tim Cook than Elon Musk, an understated pragmatist at his core. The legacy he leaves behind is immense. Before Hastings came along, watching television was a passive experience. Thanks to him, viewers have more remote control than ever – whether they like it or not.
[ad_2]
#Netflixs #Reed #Hastings #changed #watch #worse
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
What were you hoping for? An enjoyable and interesting evening with someone new.
First impressions? A friendly guy who put me at ease straight away.
What did you talk about? Our families. Motorbikes. The state the country is in.
Most awkward moment? The selfie.
Good table manners? We shared our starters, which seemed a perfectly natural thing to do.
Best thing about Dennis? He is a good talker and a good listener.
Would you introduce Dennis to your friends? Yes, because he seems to be so easygoing and chatty.
Describe Dennis in three words. Family-minded and adventurous.
What do you think Dennis made of you? He must have noticed that I’m passionate about politics.
Did you go on somewhere? No, the restaurant was in the middle of the countryside and on that night it was -4C.
And … did you kiss? Yes, we had a little kiss on the lips.
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? Can’t think of one thing.
Marks out of 10? 8.
Would you meet again? I wouldn’t mind seeing his narrowboat and riding pillion on his motorbike. But don’t tell my children. They are already worried that I might glue myself to a building and get arrested.
Dennis and Juliet on their date.
Q&A
Want to be in Blind date?
Show
Blind date is Saturday’s dating column: every week, two
strangers are paired up for dinner and drinks, and then spill the beans
to us, answering a set of questions. This runs, with a photograph we
take of each dater before the date, in Saturday magazine (in the
UK) and online at theguardian.com every Saturday. It’s been running since 2009 – you can read all about how we put it together here.
What questions will I be asked? We
ask about age, location, occupation, hobbies, interests and the type of
person you are looking to meet. If you do not think these questions
cover everything you would like to know, tell us what’s on your mind.
Can I choose who I match with? No,
it’s a blind date! But we do ask you a bit about your interests,
preferences, etc – the more you tell us, the better the match is likely
to be.
Can I pick the photograph? No, but don’t worry: we’ll choose the nicest ones.
What personal details will appear? Your first name, job and age.
How should I answer? Honestly
but respectfully. Be mindful of how it will read to your date, and that
Blind date reaches a large audience, in print and online.
Will I see the other person’s answers? No. We may edit yours and theirs for a range of reasons, including length, and we may ask you for more details.
Will you find me The One? We’ll try! Marriage! Babies!
Can I do it in my home town? Only if it’s in the UK. Many of our applicants live in London, but we would love to hear from people living elsewhere.
How to apply Email blind.date@theguardian.com
Dennis on Juliet
What were you hoping for? Some lively conversation about current affairs and social unrest.
First impressions? She seemed a very confident lady.
What did you talk about? Velocette motorcycles! Her father owned one, as did I. From then on we covered so much. How lovely Ireland is. A turtle who lives on the Coventry canal. The suffragette movement. The Jarrow march.
Most awkward moment? Taking the selfies.
Good table manners? Excellent: we agreed to share but were so busy talking we almost forgot.
Best thing about Juliet? Very open and a great conversationalist.
Would you introduce Juliet to your friends? Absolutely, Juliet will go down a storm.
Describe Juliet in three words. Confident, attractive, talkative.
What do you think Juliet made of you? I think I managed to leave a favourable impression.
Did you go on somewhere? No, it was too late.
And … did you kiss? You would need to torture me to get me to answer that.
If you could change one thing about the evening what would it be? It to have been a lunchtime date, which would have given us more time together.
Marks out of 10? 10.
Would you meet again? Definitely. We have tentative plans for a pillion ride on one of my classic motorcycles, and a trip aboard my narrowboat.
Dennis and Juliet ate at The George, Great Oxenden, Leicestershire. Fancy a blind date? Email blind.date@theguardian.com
[ad_2]
#Blind #date #kiss #Youd #torture #answer
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Our house contains a secret mystery room I didn’t even know was there until almost a year after we moved in. One day I was sitting alone in the garden looking up at the little round window near the peak of the back roof, when it occurred to me that I had never seen the view out of that window.
I went into the house and up the stairs, only to discover that the window didn’t exist from the inside. I made the trip to the garden and back a few times, the final time leading my wife outside by the wrist.
“What room does that window look out from?” I said, pointing up.
“Huh,” she said. “I’ve never noticed that window.”
After a while it became clear – sort of – that the window belonged to a little loft above the oldest one’s bedroom, although there was no access to it: the ceiling of the bedroom below is completely plastered over.
Sometimes I reflect on what might be up there – some gold bars perhaps, or a colony of protected bats. But I mostly don’t think about it because it gives me the creeps. The mystery of the secret room hadn’t crossed my mind in at least a year, until my wife started making plans.
“I’m going to have a big cupboard here,” she says, spreading her arms along a section of kitchen wall.
“There’s already a cupboard there,” I say. “Aren’t we looking right at it?”
“That’s freestanding,” she says. “I want built-in, and all the way along.”
“Won’t it block the door?” I say.
“Halfway then,” she says.
“Won’t that look weird?” I say.
“I knew you’d be like this,” she says.
“I’m just worried it will make the space seem smaller,” I say.
“We have no storage!” she shouts. “No place to put anything! What do you suggest?”
“I suggest we throw away half our stuff,” I say.
“Or we could just throw away all your stuff,” she says.
“If it prevents this cupboard, I will consider it,” I say.
A lot of my wife’s improvement proposals are predicated on the fond hope that our children will finally leave home in 2023. This is why the sudden need for extra kitchen storage perplexes me.
“Seriously,” I say. “When they’re gone we’ll only need, like, a frying pan and two forks. We can share a mug.”
“You understand nothing,” she says.
My wife’s plans also include moving us into the oldest one’s former bedroom, which was instantly colonised by the middle one when the oldest one moved out, and will probably be commandeered by the youngest one eventually.
“But if they both go this year, we should probably be in there,” my wife says. “It’s the biggest room.”
“It could be even bigger,” I say. “Don’t forget about the mystery room above it.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” my wife says. Little lights go on behind her eyes, and I realise I have inadvertently rekindled her lust for additional storage space once more.
I am sitting in my office shed when I suddenly notice something: our neighbour’s rear extension has an identical round window in the same spot.
Two days later my wife returns from next door with a load of pictures on her phone, of a dimly lit space filled with junk.
“She’s got folding stairs going up there, and you can just about stand up in the middle,” she says.
“Does it have a floor?” I say. My wife stops scrolling through the photos to stare at me.
“Of course it has a fucking floor,” she says.
“I mean, did she have to put a floor in, or was there already one?”
“Oh,” my wife says. “I didn’t ask.”
“Because we don’t really know what we’ll find until we get up there,” I say, thinking about the possibilities: a mummified cat; a skeleton in an Edwardian wedding dress.
“She said the folding stairs were expensive, but you shouldn’t skimp.”
The next day I find myself browsing through high-end folding loft ladders, wondering how much we’re going to end up spending, or how many evil spirits we’re going to unleash, in order to have somewhere to keep our Christmas lights.
Then I think: this is all your fault, because you saw that little round window, and you couldn’t leave well enough alone.
[ad_2]
#Tim #Dowling #secret #loft #house #Foolishly #told #wife
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday launched a probe into a firing incident near the house of a former MLA in Poonch district.
Police said there were reports of some 12 bore gunshots having been fired towards the house of former MLA Choudhary Muhammad Akram in Lassana village of Surankote area.
“Since the house is in the vicinity of a forest, it could be shots from a hunter’s gun those hit a street light near the outer wall of the MLA’s house.”
“There was no damage. We have taken cognisance of the incident and started investigation,” the police said. (IANS)
Dozens of Peruvians were injured when tensions flared again on Friday night as police clashed with protesters in anti-government demonstrations that are spreading across the country.
In the capital, Lima, police officers used teargas to repel demonstrators throwing glass bottles and stones, as fires burned in the streets, TV footage showed.
In the southern Puno region about 1,500 protesters attacked a police station in the town of Ilave, said the interior minister, Vicente Romero. A police station in Zepita, Puno, was also on fire, he said.
Health authorities in Ilave reported eight patients hospitalised with injuries, including broken arms and legs, eye contusions and punctured abdomens.
By late afternoon, 58 people had been injured nationwide in demonstrations, according to a report from Peru’s ombudsman.
Teargas fired at Peru protesters as thousands try to ‘take Lima’ – video report
The unrest followed a day of turmoil on Thursday, when one of Lima’s most historic buildings burned to the ground, as President Dina Boluarte vowed to get tougher on “vandals”.
The destruction of the building, a near-century-old mansion in central Lima, was described by officials as the loss of a “monumental asset”. Authorities are investigating the causes.
Romero on Friday claimed the blaze was “duly planned and arranged”.
Thousands of protesters descended on Lima this week calling for change and angered by the protests’ mounting death toll, which officially stood at 45 on Friday.
At the beginning of the Friday’s protests, the demonstrators seemed more organised than the previous day and they took over key roads in downtown Lima.
Police appeared more combative than the day before and after standing watch over protesters that had been blocked into downtown streets, they started firing volleys of teargas.
Firefighters work outside a historic mansion devastated by fire during the protests in downtown Lima. Photograph: Paolo Aguilar/EPA
Protests have rocked Peru since Pedro Castillo was ousted as president in December after he attempted to dissolve the legislature to prevent an impeachment vote.
Boluarte has dismissed calls for her to resign and hold snap elections, instead calling for dialogue and promising to punish those involved in the unrest.
In the Cusco region, Glencore’s major Antapaccay copper mine suspended operations on Friday after protesters attacked the premises – one of the largest in the country – for the third time this month.
With Reuters and Associated Press
[ad_2]
#Dozens #injured #police #stations #attacked #protests #continue #Peru
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
SRINAGAR: Five people were killed and 15 others injured on late Friday evening in a road accident in Kathua district, Police said.
The Police said the driver of a mini-bus lost control on the wheel at Sila village of Billawar area in Kathua.
“The mini-bus plunged into a gorge killing four passengers on the spot and injuring 16 others.”
“One injured person died while being carried to the hospital. The bus was going to Dhanu Parole village from Mondli,” police added.
The deceased persons were identified as Bantu son of Isher Das of Ward Number 9 (Padethar), Hansraj son of Munshi Ram of Ward Number 9 (Padethar), Ajeet Singh (32) son of Ram Chand, resident of Dhanu Parole and Amroo wife of Hansraj, resident of Ward Number 4 (Bathodi), Kaku Ram son of Krishan Chand and resident of Dhanu Parole.
The injured persons were identified as Liaquat Ali (10) son of Nami Din of Dhanu Parole, Jyoti (22) wife of Deep Kumar of Dhanu Parole, Deep Kumar (28) son of Thakur Singh of Dhanu Parole, Preeto Devi (40) wife of Rattan Singh of Dhanu Parole, Santo Devi (50) wife of Shankaar Dass of Dhanu Parole, Sudesh Kumar (30) son of Prem Chand of Padodi, Khem Raj (18) son of Pukh Raj of Banjal Bhadwal, Kewal (25) son of Rattan Chand of Dhanu Parole, Reshma Begum (25) wife of Nami Din of Dhanu Parole, Neelam (40) wife of Sanjay Kumar of Duggani, Sanjay Kumar (45) son of Hans Raj of Duggani, Surinder Kumar (24) son of Ramesh Kumar of Banjal Bhadwal, Ramesh Kumar (45) son of Bhagat Ram of Padodi, Kaku Ram (40) son of Krishan Chand of Dhanu Parole, Amrik Chand (27) son of Hans Raj of Padodi and Dalip Singh (26) son of Kartar Singh of Banjal Bhadwal.
