2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Northern Ireland Open 2024 LIVE RESULTS: John Higgins and Jimmy White in action TODAY, Trump beats Selt – updates
THE Northern Ireland Open is here – and some huge names are currently competing in the second Home Nations Series event of the season.
John Higgins and Jimmy White both face tough ties this afternoon.
Reigning champion Judd Trump overcame Matthew Selt yesterday to book his spot in the next round.
But Ronnie O’Sullivan misses out again due to medical reasons, having not played since the English Open in early September – Long Zehuang gets a bye into the last 32.
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on I was sick of waking up to condensation on my windows every morning – a simple change to my laundry routine made it go
A CLEANING expert has revealed three simple changes you can make to banish condensation from your windows.
Now that summer is well and truly behind us, you may have noticed that the cold weather has caused condensation to start to appear on your windows.
tiktok@purdyandfigg/The expert was sick of waking up with condensation on her windows[/caption]
tiktok@purdyandfigg/Dehumidifiers help to suck the moisture out of the air[/caption]
Condensation occurs when warm, moist air comes into contact with a cold surface, causing the water vapour in the air to condense into liquid water.
This can then lead to mould growth on walls and ceilings, which can cause a wide variety of health problems, including asthma and rashes.
It can also cause damage to your home and furniture, so it’s best to find the root cause of the issue, and fix it.
It’s important to tackle to problem of condensation as soon as it arises, so with that in mind, an expert from @purdyandfigg to share some helpful tips.
Laundry
After becoming sick of waking up every morning to dripping wet windows, the expert made three simple changes to her every day routine.
The first change she made is to hang clothes out to dry in the morning instead of in the evening time.
This will the give the moisture time to escape into the air, so it doesn’t end up on your windows.
Extractor Fan
The expert’s second tip, is to always remember to use an extractor fan when boiling water.
Extractor fans can help to prevent condensation and mould, by removing moisture from a room.
What is condensation?
Condensation is water droplets that form on a window when moist air comes into contact with a cold surface.
Condensation occurs when:
Air cools
Warmer air can hold more moisture than cooler air. When moist air touches a cold surface, like a window, the water vapour in the air turns into liquid water droplets.
Windows are colder than walls
Windows are often colder than insulated walls, so condensation is more likely to occur on them.
Windows are poorly insulated
Poorly insulated windows can lead to condensation, especially if they are made of aluminium, which conducts heat quickly. If left untreated, it can lead to mould and other serious problems.
They also help to improve ventilation in the kitchen and bathroom.
You can pick up an extractor fan from Amazon for as little as £11.39.
Dehumidifier
The expert’s final tip is to invest in a dehumidifier.
Dehumidifiers also remove moisture from the air, so that they don’t end up on windows.
As well as stopping condensation and mould, they also help to eliminate allergies and dust mites.
You can pick up a dehumidifier from Amazon for just £23.99.
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2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Amazon shoppers rave about £10 cosy buy that’s ‘perfect for winter cold’ – people say it makes the perfect gift
THERE’S nothing better than cosying up on your couch on a winter’s night.
Amazon shoppers have heaped on the praise for a budget buy that may level up your night in.
GettyAmazon shoppers raved about a budget buy that will keep you warm and toasty this winter (stock image)[/caption]
AmazonThe Oversized Hoodie Blanket is available for just £9.99 from Amazon[/caption]
Whether you’re too lazy to light a fire or trying to save on your energy bills, this handy item can help keep you warm during the winter.
Shoppers can cash in on a good bargain as the item is currently reduced from £12.99 to £9.99.
It features “ultra plush fleece” material with a “soft sherpa” lining for reversible wear.
The look is designed to reach the mid-thigh of the wearer and includes a large pocket at the front.
It also features wide sleeves and elasticated cuffs for “maximum comfort.”
Available in Black, Blush Pink, Burgundy Red, Charcoal Grey, Navy Blue, and Silver Grey, the hooded blanket is a “one size fits all.”
According to manufacturers, the item is machine washable and dryer-friendly.
They recommend selecting a medium heat on both machines to “preserved fluffiness.”
Amazon users shared their thoughts on the product in the review section.
“Will be great for the winter cold. Warm and cosy. Reversible is a good idea as can have a change of colour,” wrote one shopper.
“I love this blanket hoodie so much. It is so warm and comfortable! Would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to be warm this winter!!!” said another person.
“Lovely and comfortable hoodie, very soft and really really warm. Love it,” commented a third buyer.
“First time wearing it today and it is cosy, roomy, with a generous hood, central pouch pocket, and cuffed sleeves,” said another Amazon user.
Other shoppers pointed out that the hooded blanket makes an ideal present.
How does thermal clothing keep you warm?
Thermal clothing keeps you warm by trapping air near your body and preventing heat loss.
It’s made from materials like polyester, merino wool, fleece, or down that are good at insulating and wicking away moisture.
Trapping air
The fabric creates a layer of insulation by trapping air, which is a poor conductor of heat. This prevents heat from escaping through conduction, convection, and radiation.
Wicking away moisture
Thermal clothing is breathable and absorbs sweat from your skin, which helps prevent you from getting damp and cold.
Regulating body temperature
Thermal clothing keeps you warm in cold weather, but it’s also breathable enough to prevent overheating during physical activity.
Design features
Some thermal clothing has panels or zones that provide extra warmth to areas like your chest, back, and knees
“Brought this for my grandmother to keep her warm in the winter. It is lovely and warm with the fleece lining,” wrote another person.
“She can wear it on top of her clothes to give her added warmth.”
“Bought this as a present that was well received. Very comfortable to wear, washes well,” said one buyer.
“I bought this as a last minute gift for my daughter who asked for one, and she seems quite happy with it,” commented another shopper.
“It’s huge and is big enough for two! Warm and good to snuggle into.”
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on I couldn’t burp and it ruined my life – I made embarrassing ‘dinosaur’ noises and couldn’t stop farting
A WOMAN endured years of making ’embarrassing’ noises like a ‘dinosaur’ and breaking wind in front of her boyfriend as she couldn’t burp.
Lauren Petrie has never been able to burp and as a result, has suffered from extreme bloating, cramping and loud gurgling noises coming from her throat for years – and would “fart a lot”.
Kennedy NewsLauren Petrie, 34, has a condition that makes her unable to burp[/caption]
Kennedy NewsIt left her making ’embarrassing’ noises like a ‘dinosaur’ and breaking wind in front of her boyfriend[/caption]
Kennedy NewsOver the years, Lauren was left in immense pain due gas being trapped in her body[/caption]
Kennedy NewsLauren in hospital before getting Botox injected in her throat to ease her symptoms[/caption]
The 34-year-old, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, first noticed her symptoms at 17-years-old, but she said they have become debilitating over the last two years.
Footage shows Lauren, a content creator and YouTuber’s, opening her mouth and a mini “dinosaur roar”-like sound emerging.
Her symptoms became so severe and frequent that it “consumed her whole life” as she began to fear going out.
Lauren eventually discovered she suffers from a rare condition called Retrograde Cricopharyngeus Dysfunction (RCPD), where the muscle at the back of her throat cannot relax to allow air to escape from her stomach.
Because those who suffer from RCPD are unable to burp, symptoms can include abdominal and chest bloating and pain, excessive flatulence, nausea and gurgling noises from the neck and chest.
The influencer ended up splashing out £6,000 on private Botox injections in her neck and throat to relax the muscle and finally saw her painful and embarrassing symptoms drastically improve.
Lauren said: “It’s so embarrassing. My throat would make this very loud gurgle noise. It kind of sounds like a frog.
“It would always happen in the most awkward situations you know even in school in assemblies, you know when it’s meant to be quiet and all of a sudden my throat was making this weird noise.
“It was really loud and embarrassing. It sounded like a dinosaur.
“Obviously because air couldn’t come up through my mouth it goes down the other way. The air has to come out some way.
“[Breaking wind] was obviously quite awkward as well. Luckily my boyfriend has a good sense of humour.
“Obviously for most people that’s really socially awkward, but I have a potty humour so for me it’s fine.
“I started to notice it when I would go out all day. So if I had been like going out having a meal, having fizzy drinks and what have you, talking, laughing, walking about, just taking in air.
“I would get very very bloated and very uncomfortable and it would get to the point where it was so bad that I had to lay down because it was so painful.
Sometimes it would be so bad that it would feel like I was kind of drowning in my own air
Lauren
“I’ve got loads of people around me that don’t really care, they know my situation.”
It got to the point where Lauren’s symptoms became debilitating.
“Two and a half years ago it just became like a chronic illness for me, no matter what I ate or drank.
“I’d wake up, I’d have two good hours and then I’d have all my symptoms. It’s not been pretty, it’s not been fun.
“Sometimes it would be so bad that it would feel like I was kind of drowning in my own air, my chest felt awful.”
Kennedy NewsLauren would frequently be left in agony after a day spent out and about[/caption]
Kennedy NewsShe said her condition consumed her life[/caption]
The content creator began structuring her day around the inevitable onset of her symptoms.
“If I had to do my job I wouldn’t eat until afterwards because otherwise I would just be miserable,” Lauren said.
“So I would eat after I had done my job and then I would have to lay down for six, seven, eight hours afterwards just for some relief.
“It basically just consumed my whole life. It got to the point when I was in my mid-20s when I would dread going out all day.
“But obviously you don’t want to put your life on hold, especially when you’re in your mid-20s, you want to go out and have fun.
“When I turned 32 a couple of years ago and it was like all day every day.
“I just put my whole life on hold, I didn’t do much of anything.”
No escape from symptoms
Lauren described the condition that made her unable to burp.
“It’s basically just a muscle in the throat that just doesn’t work properly.
“So it allows things to go down like food, drink, I can swallow perfectly fine but it then doesn’t allow things to come back up, like air basically.
“It just doesn’t relax and let that come up.
“It’s just a muscle that just doesn’t know how to behave, something as simple as that.”
Lauren opted to be put under general anaesthetic so 150 units of Botox could be injected directly into her throatKennedy NewsKennedy NewsShe spent £6,000 on the private procedure[/caption]
Lauren first went to her GP about her symptoms in November 2022 but said her doctor could not help so she decided to pursue private treatment with an ENT specialist.
In March 2023 had her first round of 50 units of Botox injected into her neck but said the treatment did not cure her.
Lauren said: “I know I’m covered in tattoos but I don’t like needles. I was terrified. I don’t like medical things anyway, it gives me pretty big anxiety.
“Talking to someone who was actually very knowledgeable about what I had was like a breath of fresh air and it really calmed me down.
“It felt incredibly weird, it felt like someone was kind of squeezing my throat a little bit.
“Some people can just have one dose of Botox and they’re good to go. They never have to have anything ever again, especially at a low dose.”
What is retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction?
Retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction – also known as no burp syndrome – is a rare condition in which people are unable to burp or belch.
It occurs when the cricopharyngeus muscle, a sphincter muscle that sits at the top of the oesophagus, can’t relax.
As a result, it doesn’t open to allow air to exit the oesophagus.
Belching is a normal biological process that allows the body to ejects air from the oesophagus and stomach into the throat, pushing it out from the mouth or nose.
Because people with RCPD can’t burp, they get a buildup of air in their stomach and oesophagus.
This causes loud gurgling noises from the neck and chest, bloating and discomfort in the neck, chest, and abdomen, and excessive flatulence.
People suffering these symptoms may experience social anxiety as a result.
For many, this is a lifelong condition.
The main treatment for RCPD is a Botox injection into the cricopharyngeus muscle.
Most patients are able to burp and experience significant symptom relief within a week after a single injection.
In some cases, however, doctors may recommend an additional Botox injection given several months later to patients whose symptoms continue.
After getting a Botox injection into the cricopharyngeus muscle, people may experience one or more of the following side effects:
A feeling that food “hangs” or gets stuck in the throat
A feeling of a lump in the throat
Acid reflux
These side effects typically resolve on their own after a few days or weeks.
In June 2023 she had a second round of 100 units of Botox and although this helped for a while, by February of this year her symptoms had returned.
She then had a further 100 units but said this wore off very quickly.
Lauren said: “I went back to basically square one, suffering every day. All my symptoms came back.
“I felt very very helpless because I was just like, if these a hundred units aren’t working what is going to help me?”
She a particularly painful ordeal after meeting a friend in London for a meal.
“By the time I got on the train I was in so much pain that when my boyfriend picked me up from the train station I literally laid in the back of his car and I was just sobbing because I was just like why isn’t this working the way it should be working.
“It was frustrating.”
‘Freeing’
She went to another private ENT doctor in London and opted to be put under general anaesthetic so 150 units of Botox could be injected directly into her throat.
After having the surgery on October 4 Lauren said she has been able to burp successfully and hopes the procedure has permanently fixed her condition – after spending around £6,000 in total on her treatments.
Lauren said: “It does feel freeing. I was so happy. This higher dosage is working so much better. That’s why I’m praying this is the dose that sticks.
“Now because I can burp, yesterday I managed to have breakfast and an early late lunch/dinner, which is something I couldn’t do for years.
“I was just like ‘oh my god this is amazing’ and I didn’t feel like garbage afterwards either.
“It sucks you have to pay that much money for such a simple thing. But I’m very grateful and fortunate that I can afford it.
“Fingers crossed this is the last one because this is getting expensive
“I can’t believe this is how people live because I’ve never lived like this.
“To be able to eat and not be uncomfortable is just like ‘wow’. People that can burp are so lucky.”
Lauren says the procedure has been freeingKennedy NewsKennedy NewsShe hopes its effects will stick[/caption]
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on I’m a childminder but want to quit – people say they feel ‘viscerally ill’ after hearing my experience
A CHILDMINDER shared the incident that set her over the edge, making her want to quit her job.
The woman said she wanted to move to a “childless island” over a situation that people said made them feel “viscerally ill.”
GettyA childminder revealed the situation that sent her over the edge and left her contemplating job (stock image)[/caption]
In a post on Mumsnet, the nanny recounted the disgusting situation she found herself in.
“I look after children, they came out of school today and were being whiny from the off,” she explained.
The poster gave some examples of the children’s rowdy behaviour, which included “attempting to cross roads without waiting” and “bumping into elderly people.”
She shared that she had to correct them “a few times” on the walk home.
The Mumsnet user said her patience had already worn thin with the children when they stopped at the local park.
She decided it was best for them to get out some pent up energy and also to keep them in a good mood after giving out to them.
“I thought right let’s go the park by their house and diffuse tensions before home,” she said.
The poster explained that the children enjoyed “general frolicking in the leaves.”
She added that she even “got some smiles and laughs” out of them.
However, shortly before they left the park, something happened that left her ready to quit her job on the spot.
“Right as we were about to go, [one] child throws leaves at me instead of up and what was in the leaves you ask? Dog s**t,” she said.
The childminder explained how the poo was “all over” her, including on her face and in her mouth.
Despite the disgusting situation, she wasn’t able to clean herself up until she got home.
“[I] just had to finish the remainder of my shift covered in s**t and feeling sick at not being able to wash my face and mouth properly,” she said.
She said the situation was made even worse by the child’s unbothered reaction.
What help is available to parents for childcare costs?
CHILDCARE can be a costly business. Here is how you can get help.
30 hours of free childcare – Parents of three and four-year-olds can apply for 30 hours of free childcare a week. To qualify you must work at least 16 hours a week at the national living or minimum wage and earn less than £100,000 a year.
Tax credits – For children under 20, some families can get help with childcare costs.
Tax-free childcare – Available to working families and the self-employed, for every £8 you put in the government will add an extra £2.
“[They] just watched me spit and gag while shouting at them to pass me their water bottle,” she said.
The woman shared her plans to “quit my job and move to a childless island.”
Mumsnet users shared their thoughts on the situation in the comments section.
“Ah man, I felt viscerally ill for you reading that, and I love kids,” wrote one reader.
“Absolutely not being unreasonable, kids are unprecedented s**ts some of the time and I applaud anyone who looks after other peoples children as a job,” said another person.
“Those of us with children have sometimes wished we lived in a child-free place.”
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on ‘Heart-and-soul guy’ Ryan Lindgren makes Rangers debut after jaw surgery
MONTREAL — Ryan Lindgren made his season debut on Tuesday against the Canadiens after undergoing jaw surgery during his time on injured reserve. “I was obviously really excited to be back, be back playing with the guys again,” Lindgren said after the Rangers cruised to a 7-2 win at Bell Centre. “Just real happy to...
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Bill Gates secretly donated $50M to pro-Harris group: report
The billionaire’s hefty donation was made to Future Forward USA Action, according to the New York Times, which reports that Gates’ contribution was not intended to be made public.
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Texas teen murder suspect blows kiss in court during hearing for shooting of stepfather of girl he stalked
Christian Martinez pursed his lips towards the gallery of a Houston courtroom during his first court appearance following the fatal shooting of Osvaldo Casas on Aug. 10.
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Accused drunk, wrong-way driver almost hits Kamala Harris’ motorcade in Milwaukee: shocking video
A wrong-way driver, believed to have gotten behind the wheel while drunk, nearly struck Vice President Kamala Harris' motorcade in Milwaukee Monday night, shocking video shows.
