Leicester City 0 Arsenal 2

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A Christian Fuchs own goal and Eddie Nketiah’s poked finish gave Arsenal victory over Leicester City and set up a potential Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Liverpool.There was little Fuchs could do as Nicolas Pepe’s angled effort hit him after coming off the post and went in. Nketiah settled the tie in the closing stages, stabbing in after fine work from substitute Hector Bellerin. Earlier, City’s James Maddison hit the post on his first start of 2020-21. Arsenal will play Liverpool in round four if the Premier League champions beat League One Lincoln on Thursday.

Wednesday’s result continued the Gunners’ impressive start to the season, during which they have won the Community Shield on penalties and secured back-to-back Premier League victories. Manager Mikel Arteta made seven changes but still fielded a strong side, although there was again no place for Mesut Ozil. The XI did include previously maligned club record signing Pepe, who was solid without being spectacular on Wednesday, but played a key role in the opening goal with a good run and persistence at the end of it. Bukayo Saka again demonstrated his readiness for regular first-team action, while Nketiah remains a predatory finisher. He almost scored with a chip that Wes Morgan headed off the line, before he did settle the tie by prodding the ball past Danny Ward from close range.

Arguably just as interesting as those included by Arteta were those he left out of his side, including midfielders Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi. Ozil has not been involved at all since the 2019-20 season resumed in June, having previously started every Premier League game under Arteta before lockdown.

Thinking About Ceiling Tiles?

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One of the things that I look out for in big buildings, halls and mansions of the really rich folk is their decor. And one of the things that really standout are ceiling tiles. I have not had ceiling tiles in my old house or the two apartments that I have lived in but I have seen some really awesome ones in my life. Ceiling tiles with really intricate designs and the beauty of some of them really appeal to my artistic side and I am amazed and a little bit in awe when I see a really good one.

A non-resident Indian friend of my father has a home in my city which he tends to stay in only a couple of months a year, usually the colder months in the US. Ever since he & his wife retired, they prefer to spend the cold months here in tropical Kerala instead of the cold of Boston, Mass. where they have been living and working since the late 1970s. Their living room cum dining hall has these beautiful decor and the ceiling tiles really stand out, with Indian themed designs that make every visitor stand still in wonderment. Ofcourse it helps if you are willing to invest a bit of money into it but guaranteed that if you look long and hard you will find decently priced ones that are still beautiful. A dedicated space for your home theatre and/or personal theatre room – ceiling tiles can help you get that movie theatre experience.

One type of suspendedĀ ceilingĀ is made up of AcousticĀ Ceiling TilesĀ (ACT) and a stick-built grid system. SometimesĀ calledĀ a lay-inĀ ceiling, this type of system is versatile, durable, and cost effective. Ceiling tilesĀ made with asbestos are a lower risk because the asbestos fibers are tightly woven within theĀ tile. As with other asbestos materials, however, removing, breaking or cutting can release harmful particles from the fibers. So be careful if you choose to go that route.

Picking A New Fridge

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We bought out current fridge 8 years ago. My biggest complaint about it is that it is kinda small. There just isn’t enough space for keeping all the stuff that we need to keep in there. We are 3 people in the apartment and the mostly vegetables and bowls of stuff. Buying a refrigerator is a big deal. If you make the wrong decision, you’ll have to live with it for a few years. And you need to make sure you have a good appliance repair business that can do repairs on it if needed.

While choosing one you need to make sure that it fits in the area of your kitchen that you have to keep it. It is a good idea to take measurements just to be sure. And as for styles, it is best to have one like this one pictured here – with the freezer at the bottom. Let’s face it you use the freezer the least and won’t store many things in there. Think of all the times you open the fridge to take something from there. Now think of the number of times you open the freezer to get something from it. Mostly ice and some frozen meat and a couple of other things, right? Yeah that can be at the bottom.

Also look out for ways to save on your electricity bill. Look out for more energy efficient brands and models that can go a long way to get you a good appliance but at the same time isn’t that bad for your environment and power bill.

Should Everyone Learn At Least One Other Language?

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Absolutely. I think everyone should learn their own language and one other. If your native language isn’t English, then learn English. If you can learn one more language, I would suggest Mandarin/Cantonese or French. If English if your native language learn French or Arabic or Spanish or Italian or Russian or Farsi or Greek or Mandarin/Cantonese or Japanese.

I speak 3 languages, two fluently and the other, Hindi, I have less practice speaking it and hence it isn’t as good. I cannot read and write Malayalam but I can speak it. That’s because I never learned to read and write it in school but obviously living here since the age of 11 I picked it up and that is what I speak most of the time. Hindi I learned in school but after that I have barely used it at all since we don’t speak Hindi here. It’s Malayalam and English.

It’s good to know more languages, in my opinion as it broadens your understanding of other cultures and also improves your communication with people of other nations.

Prompt from 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing at the New York Times

Reunnarsson Joins Arsenal

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Goalkeeper Alex Runarsson has joined us on a four-year contract from French club Dijon. The 25-year-old Iceland international (full name Runar Alex Runarsson) joined the Ligue 1 club in July 2018 and made 13 appearances for them in all competitions last season. Alex started his career with KR Reykjavik in his home country. He went on to join FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark, where he made 62 appearances during a three-year spell, before moving to Dijon.Ā Alex will wear the number 13 shirt.

Technical director Edu said: ā€œWeā€™re very pleased to welcome Alex to our squad. We have been monitoring him for some time and from the analysis, he has strong attributes that we look for in a goalkeeper and as a person.ā€ Mikel Arteta added: ā€œWe want to create healthy competition for places and we look forward to seeing Alex bring further depth to the goalkeeping position.ā€ Runarsson will replace Emiliano Martinez as the no.2 to Bernd Leno after the Argentine international sealed a Ā£20m transfer to Aston Villa earlier in the week.

His fatherĀ RĆŗnar Kristinsson, a former midfielder, is the only Icelander to have more than 100 caps. Having previously represented his country at youth level, RĆŗnar was called up to theĀ IcelandĀ senior squad for theĀ 2017 China Cup. He earned his first seniorĀ capĀ in a friendly against theĀ Czech RepublicĀ on 9 November 2017. n May 2018, he was named in Iceland’sĀ 23-man squadĀ for theĀ 2018 FIFA World CupĀ in Russia.

6 Months!

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It has now officially been 6 months since we went into lockdown here in my area. March 20th was the last day I went to work at the office and after several discussions of when and if we would go into a lockdown, it was declared that India would go into a complete lockdown, other than essential services, 3 days from then. Kerala declared that we would go into lockdown on the next day, which gave a lot of people enough time to get arrangements made after the weekend. I went into the weekend not knowing if we would go into lockdown and on Monday morning we got the info that we will be effective that same day.

Since then I have been working at home, using the client/windows system provided to me by the company. We are working outsourced for a large, large company. I have been working steadily at home (sometimes a little too much for my taste) and I have only gone out for a few times since then. Usually just to the main post office (to collect packages), some grocery shopping (it’s nice to go out to a store once in a while even if we do most of our shopping online via delivery apps), go to an ATM, some other errands and to get a bite to eat from one of the restaurants or cafes that are allowing dine in options.

How things have changed! I never thought I would ever get some work from home opportunity other than the freelance thing that I do. Never thought this job would be allowed to get done from home but here we are. And I still don’t plan on going back for a while. If I do quit and leave for another job I will be looking for another work from home option as well. Life as we know has certainly changed!

The Lovely Bones

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The Lovely BonesĀ is a 2009Ā supernatural thrillerĀ drama filmĀ directed byĀ Peter Jackson, and starringĀ Mark Wahlberg,Ā Rachel Weisz,Ā Susan Sarandon,Ā Stanley Tucci,Ā Michael Imperioli, andĀ Saoirse Ronan. The screenplay byĀ Fran Walsh,Ā Philippa Boyens, and Jackson was based onĀ Alice Seboldā€™s award-winning and bestsellingĀ 2002 novel of the same name. It follows a girl who is murdered and watches over her family from “the in-between”, and is torn between seeking vengeance on her killer and allowing her family to heal.

In 1973, 14-year-old high school freshman Susie Salmon dreams of becoming a photographer. One day, Ray, a boy she has a crush on, asks her out. As Susie walks home through a cornfield, she runs into her neighbor, George Harvey, who coaxes her into an underground “kid’s hideout” he has built. Inside, Susie grows uncomfortable and attempts to leave; Harvey grabs her and the scene fades until she is seen rushing past her alarmed classmate Ruth Connors, seemingly fleeing Harvey’s den.

The Salmons become worried when Susie fails to return home from school. Her father, Jack, searches for her, while her mother, Abigail, waits for the police. In town, Susie sees Jack, who does not respond to her when she calls. Susie runs home to find Harvey soaking in a bathtub. After seeing the bloody bathroom and her bracelet hanging on the sink faucet, Susie realizes she never escaped the underground den and Harvey murdered her. Screaming, she is pulled into the “In-Between”, that is neither Heaven nor Earth. From there, Susie watches over her loved ones, and resists her new afterlife friend Holly’s urging her to let go.

Investigating Susie’s disappearance with Detective Fenerman, Jack believes Susie was murdered by someone she knew. He researches neighbors and eventually suspects Harvey is the killer. Fenerman is unable to find proof, as Harvey has carefully concealed the evidence. Susie’s sister, Lindsey, agrees with Jack’s suspicions, but their casework takes a toll on Abigail. Abigail’s alcoholic mother, Lynn, moves into the house. Feeling alienated from her husband, Abigail goes to California. Susie, in her afterlife, learns that Harvey, who has targeted Lindsey as his next victim, has murdered six other girls, including Holly, and that he stuffed Susie’s body into a large safe in his basement.

One night, Jack, carrying a baseball bat, trails Harvey into the cornfield. However, Jack accidentally stumbles across a teen couple. The boy, thinking they will be assaulted, nearly bludgeons Jack to death as Harvey watches nearby. As Jack recuperates, Lindsey breaks into Harvey’s house looking for evidence that he killed Susie. Upstairs, she finds a notebook containing a sketch of the underground den, a lock of Susie’s hair, and news articles about Susie’s disappearance. Harvey returns and almost catches Lindsey, but she escapes and rushes home to discover that her mother has returned. She gives the notebook to her grandmother, who contacts the police. Harvey has already fled his home ā€“ taking the safe containing Susie’s body with him.

Susie’s afterlife begins expanding into a larger heaven, and she is greeted by Harvey’s other victimsā€”now showing ten, including Susie. She resists Holly urging her to enter Heaven along with the others, claiming she has one final thing to do. Meanwhile, Susie’s classmates Ruth and Ray are present when Harvey drives up to dispose of the safe at a sinkhole dump site on the Conners’ property. Susie returns to Earth andĀ enters Ruth’s body, causing Ruth to faint. Ray rushes to Ruth’s aid only to realize she has become Susie. They kiss, completing Susie’s last wish, and she returns to Heaven. Meanwhile, Harvey dumps the safe in the sinkhole, leaving it to disappear in the muddy water as he drives away.

Sometime later, Harvey meets a young woman outside a diner and offers her a ride, but she rebuffs him and leaves. A large icicle falls from an overhead branch, hitting Harvey’s shoulder, causing him to fall backward over a steep cliff to his death. Time passes, and Susie sees that her family is healing, which Susie refers to as “the lovely bones” that grew around her absence. Susie finally enters Heaven, telling the audience: “My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was 14 years old when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. I was here for a moment and then I was gone. I wish you all a long and happy life.”

Despite what I think was really good acting by the cast, the way the movie has so much cheesy stuff in it and the storylines were a bit boring. The way the movie was shot and the stuff about the in-between let me down. 7 outta 10!

Arsenal 2 West Ham 1

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praised his side’s mental strength after Eddie Nketiah’s late winner maintained their 100% start to the season against West Ham.The result condemned the Hammers to a second successive defeat – the third time in the past four seasons they have lost their first two matches. “What I like is the approach the boys had in the last 25 minutes where I could see they were a bit down and then they lift it,” Arteta said. “Probably a few months ago we would have drawn or lost that game and today we win it. In the end you have to find a way because there will be games like this through the season.” The Gunners largely controlled the opening stages of the contest and deservedly went ahead when Alexandre Lacazette headed in from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s chipped cross.

However, the Hammers, who always looked dangerous on the counter-attack, levelled just before the interval when Michail Antonio bundled in Ryan Fredericks’ cross at the end of a sweeping move. While Arsenal continued to enjoy more of the ball after the break, David Moyes’ side created the better openings in front of goal with Antonio heading against the bar and seeing a scuffed close-range effort saved by Bernd Leno. But, Nketiah’s late tap-in from a Dani Ceballos pass ensured Arsenal continued their fine home record against the Hammers, having won 11 of the last 12 meetings at Emirates Stadium.

While there have been considerable signs of improvement at Arsenal since Arteta took charge last December this performance appeared to fizzle out after Lacazette had registered his 50th goal in all competitions for the club. The crispness of passing, swift attacking and solidity at the back were all noticeably missing and it allowed West Ham a route back into the encounter. However, the pleasing aspect for the Spaniard will be that his team were still capable of eking out a victory from an under-par showing. Nervy at the back throughout, Arteta’s side survived several close scares and struggled to break free of their lethargy despite the introduction of Ā£72m winger Nicolas Pepe. It took another substitute, Nketiah, to make the difference, with his tap-in coming eight minutes after he had come on to replace Lacazette.

Should The Drinking Age Be Lowered?

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When I growing up the drinking age was 18. As a kid I never did like the idea of drinking much. That was mainly because as a kid, maybe at the age of 7 or 8, I took a little sip of beer or something and it was so bitter that I “yucked” at it. (I am so sorry beer that I ever did that. I know I was just a kid at the time but still, I apologize)

When I was 16 that changed and I looked at beer differently. My older cousins took me to a restaurant where they knew the owner and they were over 18, they served my cousins beer. I took a glass and got almost drunk at that. That was my first proper taste of beer. And I was hooked. At 17 I and my friends would buy bottles from a bar in Edapally and the bartenders would only tell us “you can’t drink it in here but I will sell it to you as long as you carry it of in a bag”. Ofcourse we said yes and it was glorious. We friends shared a few bottles between us and it was fun.

I see it as a rite of passage for a lot of people, especially here in India. Now, a few years ago – I don’t remember which year – they changed the minimum drinking age from 18 to 21 in most states in India. In a couple of states it’s 25! What the fuck!! I think they can keep it at 18 for beer and maybe 21 for hard liquour. Knowing the kind of trouble some of these kids get into (comparatively, I was more careful when I was a teenager) it would be wise.

Prompt from 401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing At The New York Times

Part Working Weekend

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Woe is me! Such is life! I am working for a few hours this weekend. split between Saturday and Sunday. We need to create client ids for around 125 newly hired employees for our company. This falls to me mainly now and I have to pick someone else to shoulder some of that burden. They do not make it easy to create these ids and it is a bit tedious and takes up some time.

So this morning at 6:30 am I made sure that after my training batch trainees left for the day and I wished them a happy weekend and made sure I had everything ready for creating sad ids. I then got my breakfast of chapatti and peanut butter while I checked my office mail. 20 minutes later, I was in bed and watched some Corner Gas before I fell asleep. I woke up at 2 pm and brushed my teeth and then ate lunch. Back to bed watching 3 episodes of Defending Jacob before I woke up for coffee.

At 6 pm I went to take a shave and a shower and went down to get the groceries that I had ordered. Once I did that I started to work on the id creation for a couple of hours, stopping just to place an order for fried rice, some dumplings and dragon chicken for dinner. I have had two beers along with dinner and now waiting for the football to start.

Knight Nostalgic

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Knight Rider is an American entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of Knight Rider is its four television series: Knight Rider (1982ā€“1986), starsĀ David HasselhoffĀ asĀ Michael Knight, a high-tech, modern crime fighter assisted byĀ KITT, an advanced,Ā artificially intelligent,Ā self-aware, and nearly indestructible car voice by William Daniels.Ā Edward MulhareĀ as Devon Miles, the leader of FLAG, Patricia McPhersonĀ as Dr. Bonnie Barstow (Seasons 1, 3-4), KITT’s chief technician, Rebecca HoldenĀ as April Curtis (Season 2), chief technician for KITT & Peter ParrosĀ as Reginald Cornelius III aka RC3 (Season 4), driver of the FLAG mobile unit and occasional sideman were the other main cast members.

Now I know that they have had revival of the show in various formats but the main one is ofcourse the original and it is way more popular and part of pop culture as an icon of the 80s. It is well know and I know that it has it’s really cheesy moments, as was par for the course, for 80s tv shows that served as more or less a family entertainer. It was hugely popular and I enjoyed watching the four seasons when I was a kid. My dad & sis watched it with me and mom whenever she felt like it as well. Growing up in Kuwait, it was more or less one of the top 3 shows of the time and all my friends loved the car and the adventures of Michael Knight. I also remember that at one time, maybe at the age of 8 or 9, I asked my parents to change my name to Michael mainly because of the character.

I haven’t watched any of Knight Rider since 1987 when I left Kuwait along with my family and moved back to India. At many times I have been made aware of the show’s reruns happening on some cable tv channel or the other but I just never had the urge to sit and watch some. The 2008 show pilot also did not interest me much and I stopped watching it after a few minutes. But the original still has it’s charms. And finally, maybe for nostalgic reasons, I think I have generated enough interest in me to watch the show again. Mind you I have watched some episodes multiple times but I haven’t since I turned 13 so that is a long, long time ago.

Hopefully I will watch it soon.

Why Is Cheerleading A Thing?

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Of all the things that I find odd in American culture, cheerleading is one of the oddest. I guess, I can throw in Canada as well though it isn’t in anyway as big as it is in the US. India too has succumbed to the cheerleading virus with the launch of the Indian Premier League cricket league and them bringing cheerleaders for the teams. Funny thing is how many of the cheerleaders are white and not India.

CheerleadingĀ is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intenseĀ physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competition. Cheerleading routines typically range anywhere from one to three minutes, and contain components ofĀ tumbling,Ā dance,Ā jumps,Ā cheers, andĀ stunting. Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly in America, with an estimated 3.85 million participants as of 2017.

I understand women dancing. I like women. I like the energy they bring. I like women in skimpy outfits. All good. Hey, if no one is forcing them to do that, I say let them do it. However what I have seen in American schools, colleges and even some sporting events, and what I can’t understand, is how serious they take it. Especially young teens in school with even their mothers taking a big role in pushing them to get selected to the cheerleading squad. Seriously? And the routines that they have are very cheesy and silly and ofcourse in the end they have to hoot and shout and pretend like it’s the greatest thing on the planet.

I have laughed myself silly at them. I shake my head whenever I see them. And to be honest I don’t like the idea of teenaged girls in those outfits and beeing leered at. Atleast in the tv shows and movies that I have watched, the actresses who portray the “teen” is atleast 20 or 21 in most cases. Grown women is another thing. But I still find it ridiculous that this is a thing. And that’s because when you have male sportsmens and teams and female cheerleaders it’s like the women are only good to cheer on the men who are strong and athletic. Women play most of those same sports too. I would rather watch them play sports.

What Do You Collect?

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I used to collect books – the first thing that I collected. Then it was music cassettes and followed by cds. Man, I had an amazing collection of cassettes and cds for the longest time. Ever since I was 11 or 12 I collected music albums on cassettes and by the age of 22-23 I started collecting CDs. I spent a bunch of money buying the albums I had on cassettes on cds. But yes by then I also started selling off my cassettes which gave me some money back.

I collected cds till my early 30s but then realizing that space was a concern in my small apartment, I ripped all my cds into mp3 format and saved them on a hard drive. I started doing this back in 2006-07 and by the time 2010 came along I stopped buying cds. In 2015 I sold all my cds and the remaining cassettes as I had everything on mp3 format and the cds were just taking up space and from 2009 onwards all new purchases (I rarely buy any new music anymore) is all digital and online. But then I had a new thing to collect. Star Trek spaceships.

I bought a shelf to display them and bought closed to 50 of them. Now that is on the back burner. I feel like I will only buy a few more and keep most of them in a cupboard. Mostly because it gets very dusty here and it’s hard to clean the ships and the shelves all the time. But since late 2018 dvds have been the thing that I love collecting. I buy them online and display them on my two shelves. I don’t have a bluray player and most of the blurays of the movies that I have checked out are more expensive than dvds and well I don’t want to spend that much money.

Prompt from 550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing at The NY Times