All posts tagged: table

'Russians prefer to sit at negotiating table and deal with Trump directly without involving Ukraine'

'Russians prefer to sit at negotiating table and deal with Trump directly without involving Ukraine'

Published by Sam

Volodymyr Zelensky would now agree to direct talks with Vladimir Putin to end almost three years of war. His comments come amid high anticipation of talks to begin with Donald Trump who has pledged to end the fighting. All the while, the Kremlin calls Zelensky comments on direct talks with Putin ’empty words’. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24’s Yinka Oyrtade welcomes Natia Seskuria, Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute & Lecturer in Russian Politics. Source link

New finance leasing rules put renewables back on the table

New finance leasing rules put renewables back on the table

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles The Academy Trust Handbook 2024 is making it easier for trusts to borrow money for investments that support renewable activity or energy efficiency. This is welcome, but there are risks. This year, the rules on when finance leases need to be approved by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) have been relaxed so prior approval is not required for leases related to LED lighting systems or “to support renewable activity”. This is a positive step forward that will help schools achieve their sustainability goals and save costs, even as they wait for further details to be released. However, just because schools can borrow money doesn’t mean they necessarily should. Schools must ensure their deals maintain the principles of value for money, regularity and propriety. This deregulation could be allowing trusts to take on financial commitments they are unprepared for, which can end with unforeseen costs. It is not always obvious whether an arrangement is an operating or a finance lease. Both involve a lessee/school paying to use something …

MP to table amendment to abolish bishops’ bench

MP to table amendment to abolish bishops’ bench

Published by skeptic

An MP will seek to table an amendment to the Government’s hereditary peers bill which would abolish the bishops’ bench. Conservative MP Gavin Williamson (pictured) announced his intention to bring the amendment in a debate on the bill today. Twenty-six Church of England bishops sit by right in the House of Lords. The National Secular Society is working with Williamson to garner support for the amendment among MPs. The NSS told MPs the bishops’ bench is “at least as archaic, elitist, unfair and indefensible as the seats given to hereditary peers”. Speaking in the Commons, Williamson said “clergy automatically sitting as right” is “fundamentally wrong” and “frankly ridiculous”. Describing the bishops’ bench as an “injustice”, he said it was time to “lance the boil”. Only removing hereditary peers will not “eradicate this injustice”, he said. Williamson noted less than 2% of the British population attend Anglican services on Sundays, and said the 26 bishops are “not reflective of the United Kingdom”. He emphasised there is no Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish representation on the bishops’ …

Timothée Chalamet to Tackle Table Tennis in ‘Marty Supreme’. Here’s Everything We Know

Timothée Chalamet to Tackle Table Tennis in ‘Marty Supreme’. Here’s Everything We Know

Published by skeptic

I think ping-pong might be the perfect pastime for the slight, sly sharpness of Timothée Chalamet. He hasn’t necessarily got the brute size for any of those nastier, rougher sports, but ping-pong? Skillful, intelligent, quick and crafty ping-pong? I think he could be onto a winner there. So it makes a fair bit of sense that he’ll be playing a ping-pong pro in A24’s Marty Supreme, which we’ve just seen our first glimpse of courtesy of some leaked pics of Chalamet on set. There’s a fair bit of hype about this one, on account of some rather sizeable names involved in the project. But who are they? What are they doing there? And who is this mysterious Marty Supreme I speak of? Fret not. I will tell you right now. What is Marty Supreme? Marty Supreme is a sports drama film from indie powerhouse A24, which is loosely based on the life of legendary American ping-pong pro Marty Reisman, but has some fiction stirred into the mix to spice things up a little. Who’s in …

Despite NSFW explorations, OpenAI says porn is off the table

Despite NSFW explorations, OpenAI says porn is off the table

Published by skeptic

OpenAI is open to allowing NSFW responses generated by ChatGPT and its API, but porn is a hard no. On Wednesday, the company published a Model Spec, a document that pulls the veil back a little bit on how the models are trained to respond to various prompts. In the Spec, OpenAI shared rules for how ChatGPT and the API are directed to respond, including prompts for breaking the law, questions about chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) threats, and yes, prompts for explicit content. SEE ALSO: OpenAI’s GPT-5 release could be as early as this summer OpenAI’s current policy bans NSFW content. But just below its policy statement, OpenAI noted that it is “exploring whether we can responsibly provide the ability to generate NSFW content in age-appropriate contexts through the API and ChatGPT.” The reasoning is “developers and users should have the flexibility to use our services as they see fit” as long as they adhere to OpenAI’s policies. So NSFW content is not allowed now, but it might be in the future. Mashable …

Israel and Hamas ‘agree to return to the negotiating table’

Israel and Hamas ‘agree to return to the negotiating table’

Published by Sam

Back to homepage / Middle East AS IT HAPPENED Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams arrived in Cairo Tuesday, with Egyptian state-linked media reporting that “all parties had agreed to return to the negotiating table” for ceasefire talks. The renewed push for mediated talks came hours after Israel sent tanks into Rafah in southern Gaza, seizing the border crossing with Egypt. Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded. Issued on: 07/05/2024 – 01:55Modified: 07/05/2024 – 22:03 2 min Israeli military operates on the Gazan side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on May 7, 2024. © IDF Handout via Reuters This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here. Summary: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said the military’s capture of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing was an “important step” towards dismantling Hamas. The Israeli army said early Tuesday that its forces had taken control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing after launching air strikes that killed at least 27 people, according to hospitals. UN officials said …

Hostess Was Lectured By A Customer For Saying ‘You Guys’ While Speaking To A Table

Hostess Was Lectured By A Customer For Saying ‘You Guys’ While Speaking To A Table

Published by skeptic

After a young hostess politely tried to send a couple off after their meal, the woman decided a lecture was in order instead. Apparently, she took offense to being acknowledged as “you guys,” a term widely and commonly used as a casual form of address. The hostess filmed herself being lectured by a customer for using the term ‘you guys.’ The host, Jade, who goes by no_one_important900 on TikTok, posted the video to share the reality of what it’s like to deal with specific customers’ bizarre complaints in the service industry, which she described as an “everyday occurrence” in the caption. In the video, Jade addressed the couple as they exited the restaurant without an ounce of attitude or disrespect. “I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day, and I hope you guys enjoyed your meal,” Jade told the customers with a broad smile. RELATED: Woman Claims She Was Denied Service At A Restaurant Because She Was With A ‘Non-Tipping’ Friend The woman then approached Jade, placed her hand on the young woman’s …

From petri dish to plate: meet the company hoping to bring lab-grown fish to the table | Fish

From petri dish to plate: meet the company hoping to bring lab-grown fish to the table | Fish

Published by skeptic

The redbrick offices, just north of Hamburg’s River Elbe and a few floors below Carlsberg’s German headquarters, are an unexpectedly low-key setting for a food team gearing up to produce Europe’s first tonne of lab-grown fish. But inside Bluu Seafood, past the slick open-plan coffee and cake bar, the rooms are dominated by gleaming white tiles, people bustling about in lab coats, rows of broad-bottomed beakers and pieces of equipment more at home in a science-fiction thriller. A 50-litre tank (a bioreactor) is filled with what looks like a cherry-coloured energy drink. The liquid, known as “growth medium”, is rich with sugars, minerals, amino acids and proteins designed to give the fish cells that are added to it the boost they need to multiply by the million. You can maintain the same nutritional benefits, but without the possible microplastics or other contamination Seren Kell The aim is to one day sell the resulting product – which will be actual fish rather than a plant-based substitute – to shoppers as a more environmentally friendly alternative to …

What joy it is to have a friend with a superpower – getting a table at the hottest restaurants | Rachel Cooke

What joy it is to have a friend with a superpower – getting a table at the hottest restaurants | Rachel Cooke

Published by skeptic

The land of restaurants is increasingly paradoxical. Every day, good ones close. Running costs are punitive and broke customers are eating at home more often. Yet still there are places where it’s next to impossible to bag a table; where to have even the remotest chance of doing so requires near superhuman levels of patience and determination, as well as no other demands whatsoever on your time – including paid employment. I laughed when I read in the New Yorker’s annual food issue of the “reservation scalpers” who make $80,000 a year by hoarding bookings to then sell them on to the desperate-to-be-there rich. Only in Manhattan, I thought. But this didn’t stop me. Just moments later, I was urging my neighbour, Sue, who is to restaurants what Harry Houdini once was to padlocks and straitjackets – just you watch her bust her way in! – to try to get us a table at X (I won’t say its name, for obvious reasons). Sue is also a hoarder of reservations, with the key difference that she …

My friend ranks his friendships in a league table – and it worries me | Friendship

My friend ranks his friendships in a league table – and it worries me | Friendship

Published by skeptic

Over a few drinks, a good friend of mine recently let slip that he keeps a spreadsheet of his friends, which he uses to rank them in tiers. Initially I laughed it off as drunken ramblings, but he then proceeded to show me the actual document, saved on his phone with comments next to people’s names. I learned that he keeps a running score of his friends based on how often they WhatsApp him, take the time to call him or go to the pub or on a trip abroad together. At first I found the whole idea amusing and was actually pleased to see I ranked quite highly in his “friendship matrix”, as he likes to call it. However, the more I thought about it, the more anxious and worried I became. I live abroad and don’t get to see my friend all that often, so now I’m slightly terrified I will be relegated to a lower rank and overtaken by other friends who might have more time for him. Is this a normal …