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Major Cruise line scraps entire season

Virgin Voyages has cancelled all of its sailings in Australia and New Zealand for the next year after they were left with "no choice" in the wake of escalating tensions in the Red Sea. The Resilient Lady ship will not return Down Under for its promised second sailing season next summer due to safety concerns following a series of strikes on container ships in the Red Sea. The cruise line revealed on Tuesday that a lengthier alternative return route around Africa was not viable for the company. "On the heels of these recent changes and based on the regional and government advice we have received, we remain very concerned about potential escalations in the Red Sea over the next 12 months," a spokesperson from Virgin Voyages said. “This significant and ongoing conflict puts unacceptable risks for safe passage through the region for our Sailors, crew and vessel." “To say that we are disappointed to have come to this tough conclusion is an understatement. “These adjustments are happening now to minimise potential future disruption to our passengers’ holiday plans, knowing there is a high likelihood that changes would need to happen in the future.” The cancellations will impact customers with trips planned in late 2024 and early 2025 on repositioning voyages between Europe and Australia. Virgin Voyages have indicated that a return to Australian waters will remain a possibility, as they continue to look for available options. They also said that if the 2024/25 can go ahead, customers who had previously booked their holiday will be prioritised if they would like to re-book. Currently, impacted customers have the option to re-book a different trip or request a full refund. A few other cruise companies who operate seasonal sailings or world cruises through the Red Sea and Suez Canal have also had to cancel, reposition, or re-route their sailings. MSC have cancelled three repositioning sailings in April, while Cunard, Princess and Seabourn have re-routed their world cruises to avoid the Suez Canal. Image: Virgin Voyages

Cruising

World’s sixth largest cruise ship will never sail

A cruise ship designed to hold more than 9,000 passengers - making it one of the largest in the world - will never set sail, instead travelling straight to a scrapyard. In a shipyard on Germany’s Baltic coast, the Global Dream II was almost complete when MV Werften, the shipbuilder, filed for bankruptcy in January 2022, per <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/20/global-dream-ii-unfinished-9000-passenger-cruise-ship-to-be-scrapped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a>. Lacking the funds to complete the vessel themselves, the company sought a buyer for it. Though the facilities were successfully sold to a German naval unit, the Global Dream II will be scrapped as it isn’t outfitted for military purposes. Christoph Morgen, the administrator for the bankrupt company, reportedly told a press conference that the Global Dream II would need to be moved out of the shipyard by the end of the year. German cruise industry magazine <a href="https://anbord.de/global-dream-ii-wird-verschrottet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An Bord</a> reported that its lower hull would be disposed of for scrap price. The looming ship, along with its sister ship, Global Dream, would have held the record for largest cruise ships by passenger capacity. With a combined weight of 208,000 tons, the ships would have also been the sixth largest cruise ships by size, trailing behind the Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships. Image: Getty Images

Cruising

Insulting Wimbledon tradition to be scrapped

The All England Lawn Tennis Club will reportedly replace its Wimbledon honour boards ahead of the 2022 grand slam tournament. Titles before the names of its female champions will be withdrawn. Honorifics in front of female winners will be removed next month to “move with the times”, while the process of married women taking the initials and surnames of their husbands will also be updated. Since the tournament began in 1884, female champions had titles “Miss” and “Mrs” in front of their names, while the men didn’t. For example, former world No. 1 Ash Barty is currently immortalised as “Miss A Barty”, while 20-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic reads “N Djokovic”. Meanwhile, the name of Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who won Wimbledon in 1980, is written “Mrs R Cawley” because her husband’s name is Roger. As sports reporter Paul Dennett wrote last year: “Surely Wimbledon must do away with such outdated and insulting styling". “It is time to rewrite the honours board. Remove all the anachronistic instances of ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs’ and get rid of the initials of female players’ husbands. ‘Miss. R. Cawley’ should be ‘Evonne Goolagong-Cawley’ and ‘Miss. J.M. Lloyd’ should be ‘Chris Evert’.” In 2019, Wimbledon stopped using terms “Miss” and “Mrs” when announcing the names of players during matches, a move that “surprised” Djokovic. “I thought that tradition was very unique and very special; I thought it was nice,” the Serbian said at the time. “It’s definitely not easy to alter or change any traditions here that have been present for many years. It’s quite surprising that they’ve done that.” The move comes after Wimbledon, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious tennis event, was stripped of ranking points by the sport’s main tours in response to the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament, following the invasion of Ukraine. This essentially reduced Wimbledon to the status of a high-profile exhibition event. Image: Getty

Travel Trouble

Julianne Moore calls for “sexist” term to be scrapped

Actress Julianne Moore is questioning how women are viewed and talked about as they age, calling for one particular term to be dropped completely. Moore, who turned 60 in December, criticised those who use the phrase “ageing gracefully” in the latest issue of As If magazine, according to People. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ03jz0DeEw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ03jz0DeEw/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Julianne Moore (@juliannemoore)</a> </div> </blockquote> he described the term, especially when used while speaking about women, as “totally sexist”. “There’s so much judgement inherent in the term ‘ageing gracefully’,” Moore told the publication. “Is there an ungraceful way to age? We don’t have an option of course. No one has an option about ageing, so it’s not a positive or negative thing, it just is,” she said. Moore questioned the perception that women in particular had some kind of influence over, so they could opt in or out of doing it “gracefully”. “It’s part of the human condition, so why are we always talking about it as if it is something that we have control over?” she asked. Stressing the value of “inner growth”, Moore argued that people should be more concerned with how they continue to evolve as they age instead. “We are given a narrative as children that we keep growing through school, maybe go to college then, after school is finished, the idea of growth is done … But we have all this life left to live,” she said. “How do we continue to challenge ourselves, to interest ourselves, learn new things, be more helpful to other people, be the person that your friends and family need or want? How do we continue to evolve? How do we navigate life to have even deeper experiences?” Moore also endorsed a comment Helen Mirren made last year during an interview for O, The Oprah Magazine, where she hit back against the phrase “anti-ageing”. “Ageing is a requirement of life: You either grow old or die young,” Mirren said during the interview. “I take great issue with the term, actually. You can’t avoid ageing. The way I see it, you have two choices in life: You can either get older, or die,” the 75-year-old said at the time. “And I want to continue to see what life has in store. I think about Kurt Cobain and all that he missed. I mean, how sad is it that he never knew about GPS.” Image: Julianne Moore / Instagram

Legal

5 scrapped TV spin-offs you’ll never get to see

Spin-offs are tricky business and if they do not go down well fans, they not only cease production, but they ruin the perfectly good storyline of the original show. These TV show spin-offs next made it on our screen, but some even made it as far as shooting a pilot. Here are TV spin-offs that got called off. 1. Rose Tyler: Earth Defence This idea was a Doctor Who spin that followed Rose Tyler’s adventures after she departed the flagship in 2006. The story was meant to follow Tyler as she worked for Torchwood after she ended up stranded on a parallel Earth. The spin-off was green lit and had a budget allocated for the first episode of a series of specials, but it was stopped due to fears that bringing back Rose too soon would lessen the impact of her departure. 2. Cherry Hill Prison Break was going to get a spin-off which would follow well-to-do housewife Molly as she’s thrown into a women’s prison. Molly was going to be introduced in the third season of Prison Break, but the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike forced production to shut down and the change in storylines. 3. Assignment: Earth Assignment: Earth was intended to be the sister series of the original Star Trek. Star Trek’s final episode in season two introduced Gary Seven, an alien from the 24th century who time travelled to protect Earth’s history. It was organised for Gary Seven to have more standalone adventures, but the idea never happened. 4. How I Met Your Dad While there is a different How I Met Your Mother spin-off potentially in the works, the first spin-off idea was created in 2014. The spin-off series would’ve been a gender-swapped remake of the original series. The pilot of the spin-off starred Greta Gerwig as the lead and had Meg Ryan perform the voiceover as the older version of her character Sally. CBS passed on the idea, but now a revamped version called How I Met Your Father could still be picked up. 5. Springfield One Simpson’s episode ‘22 Short Films About Springfield’, which focused on Springfield’s other residents, was so popular that a spin-off was nearly created. Former showrunner Josh Weinstein told <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/feature/a818387/scrapped-tv-spin-offs-doctor-who-prison-break-buffy/" target="_blank">Digital Spy</a>, "We felt at that time – around season seven – that we all knew the family so well, so let's start exploring all these great side-characters.” "It would be a chance to tell full stories about these other characters, but that never happened. I think it could've been great, but everyone was so busy at the time." What is your favourite TV show spin-off series? Let us know in the comments below.

This annoying computer program is about to be scrapped

Adobe is planning to remove its Flash Media Player by the end of 2020, the company announced in a blog post on Tuesday. Adobe Flash Player is still being used by a number of gaming, education, and video sites, but the company is encouraging businesses and people that use Flash to migrate to other platforms. <img src="http://cdn.arn.com.au/media/8340179/flashupdate.jpg?width=500&height=315.4435925520263" alt="undefined" style="width: 354px; height: 223px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> Say goodbye to annoying update messages like this. “We will stop updating and distributing the Flash Player at the end of 2020 and encourage content creators to migrate any existing Flash content to these new open formats,” Adobe said in a statement. In the past few years, web browsers Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Safari have all blocked Flash ad used HTML5 instead. Adobe Flash was crucial in enabling early websites to run videos and online games. But as the web has evolved and improved, there's little need for Flash now. The full migration to HTML5 will likely result in more secure experiences and longer battery life.

Technology

86-year-old raises $521K for children’s home by collecting scraps

Meet Johnny Jennings, whose life mission has finally come to fruition at 86 years of age. Georgia resident Johnny was 18 years old when he first visited the Georgia Baptist Children’s Home. When a child ran up to Johnny begging to be adopted, it was a moment that would change the course of his life. “When we went to leave, these three little boys grabbed me by the knees and said, ‘Will you be my daddy?’” Jennings told TODAY. “And I said I’ll do what I can. That took my heart, right there.” For that day onwards, Johnny did everything he could do to help the home. He wasn’t ready to adopt, he didn’t have much money, but he could find a way to raise money. So he collected paper and aluminium products and cashed them in for money. <img width="455" height="311" src="http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_09/1198500/johnnyinline_b6d67bd61b88b7671b89f50b19fe923c.today-inline-large.jpg" class="j-entry-img" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> Over the past 30 years Johnny has donated more than $400,000 (AUD$527,000) to children’s homes. "Johnny Jennings is one of the most gracious individuals I have ever met,” Georgia Baptist Children’s Home President Dr. Kenneth Thompson told TODAY. “I have always admired his quiet, humble spirit, his commitment to helping others and most of all, his love for the children in our care.” Every year Johnny presents a cheque to the church's annual meeting. It’s a special moment for Johnny as the kids from the children’s home are also in attendance. Johnny has served on the church’s board for four five-year terms. “I’ve been a trustee for 20 years,” Johnny said. “I’m just part of the family.” Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-woman-gets-arrested-for-bucket-list/">Dutch woman in her 90s ticks “getting arrested” off bucket list</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-man-dancing-in-street/">Sweet elderly man dancing in the street will make your day</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/bride-asks-92-year-old-grandmother-to-be-her-bridesmaid/">Bride asks 92-year-old grandmother to be her bridesmaid</a>

Retirement Life

The food scraps you should be eating

Did you know that Kiwis discard 122,547 tonnes of food a year? That's enough to feed around 262,917 people, or the population of the Bay of Plenty for 12 months. The average household sends around 79kg of edible food to landfills every year, costing the average household $563 a year. Bread, fruit and vegies, and meal leftovers are the most commonly discarded foods. There is plenty that we can do to reduce the amount of food we waste. Without knowing it, we are often discarding the best parts of the fruit and vegetables. The skins, peels, stalks and rinds are often full of flavour, and more importantly, full of vitamins and nutrients. How to save money and reduce your footprint <ul> <li>Plan your shopping list so that you only buy the food you need. </li> <li>Eat leftovers. </li> <li>Freeze food before it goes off. </li> <li>Use up food that you already have at home before buying more</li> <li>Compost your food waste instead of putting it in the general waste bin</li> <li>Reuse food scraps you would normally discard</li> </ul> What food scraps are good to eat? <ul> <li>Juice pulp is full of fibre and nutrients. You can add the pulp back into your juice or add it to smoothies, frittatas, muffins, cakes and bakes. It can also be used to add flavour to chicken stuffing. If you don't want to use it right away, you can store it in the fridge for a few days or freeze it for future use.</li> <li>Stems of herbs such as parsley and coriander can be juiced, added to stock, broths and soups or thinly sliced and added to salads and frittatas. They are chock full of flavour so you can even use them to infuse oils and vinegars.</li> <li>Broccoli and cauliflower stalks are similar in nutrient content to the florets and can be used in much the same way – steam, bake, stew or add to broths and soups.</li> <li>Root vegetable peels from potatoes, parsnips, beetroots, carrots, swedes and ginger can be chopped and added to soups, casseroles, stews, vegetable fritters and meatballs. Root vegetable skins can also be oven-baked with a sprinkling of salt and spices for a moorish and healthy chip-like snack. Make sure you clean the fruit or vegetable well before peeling and opt for organic produce that's free from pesticides where possible.</li> <li>Citrus peels and their zest is perfect for adding a concentrated flavour to cakes, bakes and salad dressings. After hand juicing, citrus halves can be stuffed inside a chicken or duck before roasting or thinly sliced and added to salads.</li> <li>Watermelon rind can be finely grated and added to salads or pickled and served as a side with other dishes.</li> <li>Onion skins are high in antioxidants and dietary fibre and can be added to stock or soups to extract the nutrients or used to stuff poultry before roasting.</li> <li>Pear and apple cores (and peels) can be poached and added to crumbles and fruit cakes. They also work well in chutneys and preserves.</li> <li>Celery leaves can be chopped and used as you would celery stalks.</li> <li>Cauliflower and broccoli leaves contain the same, if not more nutrition than the florets and can be steamed or sautéd like other greens.</li> <li>Beetroot leaves can be steamed or sautéed like other greens.</li> <li>Fennel fronds can be chopped and added to broths, soups, stews and salads.</li> <li>Carrot tops can be juiced, steamed or sautéed like other greens.</li> <li>Pawpaw seeds can be juiced, added to a fruit salad or dried in the sun until they resemble black peppercorns. Add to a pepper grinder and use much like pepper to spice food.</li> <li>Pumpkin seeds can be scooped out and toasted on a tray in the oven for 15 minutes at 180C and eaten as a snack or sprinkled on steamed vegetables or salads for extra texture.</li> <li>Corn silk is the fine strands found when we peel back the corn leaves on a cob. It's full of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, mineral and fibre. Drink as a tea or chop and add to soups and stews.</li> </ul> How do you re-use your leftover scraps? Let us know in the comments below. Written by Anthia Koullouros. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank">Stuff.co.nz.</a> Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/05/how-to-stop-crying-when-chopping-onions/">How to stop crying when chopping onions</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/05/kitchen-tricks-foodies-will-love/">16 kitchen tricks foodies will love</a> <a href="/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/06/5-foods-you-should-never-reheat/">5 foods you should never reheat</a>

Home & Garden

Why you shouldn’t feed your pet table scraps

Don’t cave into those big brown puppy eyes! If you feed your furry friend scraps from the dinner table, you could be unwittingly sending them to an early grave. Pet obesity is on the rise with vets seeing an increasing number of obese animal in the last few years. However, many owners remain unaware their pets were on the heavy side or that pet obesity was even a problem. Roy Morgan Research found that 42 per cent of Aussie dog owners were feeding their pooch table scraps, with many people underestimating just how fattening the food is for our pets. For example, one sausage for a nine kilogram pooch is the equivalent of a person eating three hamburgers. Similarly, one biscuit for a small animal is like us demolishing the entire biscuit packet! Zara Boland, a clinical vet, told the Daily Mail: “By feeding scraps and human food treats to our pets we are literally shortening their lives as well as accelerating them towards a range of adverse health conditions associated with malnutrition and obesity. Yet simply by ensuring nutritionally balanced and tasty meals, we can demonstrate our love and commitment to them.” However, not all people food is bad for our pets. Kristina Johansen, a dog nutritionist, says, “Vegetables such as green beans, baby carrots, broccoli, zucchini or any other dog-safe crunchy vegetable are excellent treats, as are some fruits such as apples, pears, bananas, and melon.” She recommends pet owners “avoid treats that are high in fat and calories such as cheese, sausages and peanut butter, and feed them smaller treat portions”. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/clever-cop-saves-dog/">Clever cop saves dog with a moment of inspiration</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/12/happiest-dogs-in-the-world/">The happiest dogs in the world</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/interspecies-animal-friendships/">15 unlikely friendships that will melt your heart</a>

Family & Pets

Foods you can (and should) grow from kitchen scraps

Don’t throw out those kitchen scraps! Here’s a list of cooking staples you can re-grow straight from scraps – which means less waste, more food and a cheaper grocery bill. Celery, lettuce, cabbage, bok choy Cut off root end and place in a shallow bowl of warm water with cut end up. Keep in direct sunlight and mist leaves with water a few times a week. After a week or two, leaves will begin sprouting. Transplant to soil with leaves above ground. Potato and sweet potatoes If you find some potatoes in the pantry starting to sprout, use them to grow more. Cut into pieces no smaller than a golf ball, ensuring there’s at least one eye on each piece. Plant 10 centimetres deep into soil with eyes facing up. Growth should begin appearing within a few weeks. Garlic All you need is one clove to grow more garlic! Plant clove with roots facing down in potting soil. Keep in direct sunlight. Once shoots have established, cut shoots back and your plant will soon produce a bulb. Onion Cut root off onion leaving about a centimetre of onion with the root. Cover lightly with potting soil and keep in sunny area. Herbs Basil, rosemary, coriander, mint and many others can be regrown from store-bought bunches of herbs. Pick a long stem from the bundle and trim off bottom and top leaves where they meet the stem. Place stem in water and leave for a week until you see roots forming. Once plant is big enough, transplant to soil. Related links: <a href="/lifestyle/gardening/2015/04/how-to-grow-cucumbers/">Top tips for growing cucumbers</a> <a href="/lifestyle/gardening/2015/04/guide-to-vertical-gardens/">Your guide to vertical gardens</a> <a href="/lifestyle/gardening/2015/04/fast-growing-vegetables/">10 great fast-growing veggies</a>

Home & Garden

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