bubble | Common News Update

Apr62021 by adminNo Comments

New Zealand and Australia to open quarantine-free travel bubble

World

April 6 (UPI) -- New Zealand announced Tuesday it will be re-opening its borders with Australia later this month after slamming them shut to travel a year ago in an effort to stymie the spread of the coronavirus. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced during a press conference Tuesday that conditions in both countries to permit quarantine-free travel between them had been met and the trans-Tasman travel bubble will be open starting April 19. Advertisement The announcement came hours after the nation's Cabinet had been informed that travel would be safe and that the director-general of health assessed the risk of transmission between the two countries was low. "One sacrifice that has been particularly hard for many to bear over the past year has been not be able to see friends...

Mar212021 by adminNo Comments

Line Of Duty returns: We didn’t float up the Lagan in a bubble – here’s everything you need to know

Entertainment

For the DIR, for the next few weeks we're only interested in one thing here and one thing only - and that's catching bent coppers.Line Of Duty fans, almost two years since we last visited AC-12, the wait is finally over. Not since Game Of Thrones' controversial swansong has there been such feverish anticipation around a TV series' return. Thanks to its tense and twisty scripts, stellar performances from core stars Adrian Dunbar, Vicky McClure and Martin Compston, and a roster of brilliant guest actors - plus Superintendent Ted Hastings' knack for an incredibly quotable catchphrase, fella - it has become one of the biggest shows on British TV. Image: 'Can we go through those acronyms one more time?' Kelly Macdonald joins the cast as DCI Joanne Da...

Feb272021 by adminNo Comments

How Bitcoin’s vast energy use could burst its bubble

Science

ReutersWe've all heard the stories of Bitcoin millionaires.Elon Musk is the latest. His electric car company Tesla made a paper profit of more than $ 900m (£646m) after buying $ 1.5bn (£1bn) -worth of the cryptocurrency in early February.Its high profile support helped pushed the price of a single Bitcoin to more than $ 58,000.But it isn't just the digital asset's price that has hit an all-time high. So has its energy footprint.And that's caused blowback for Mr Musk, as the scale of the currency's environmental impact becomes clearer.It also helped prompt a series of high profile critics to slate the digital currency this week, including US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.President Biden's top economic adviser described Bitcoin as "an extremely inefficient way to conduct transactions," say...

Dec132020 by adminNo Comments

NBA’s ‘bubble’ reveals link between circadian rhythm, home court advantage

Science

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Home court advantage is real, but researchers have long argued over the origins of the phenomenon. More recently, however, a consensus has begun to emerge: basketball players are at their best when they get a good night's sleep in their own bed -- or at least their own time zone. Advertisement According to new analysis by a team of researchers at Oregon Health and Science University -- published Friday in the journal Scientific Reports -- shooting performance is impacted by cross-time-zone travel, while rebounding is influenced by any kind of travel. Normally, it's not possible to utilize a control group when studying differences in performance among home and road teams in the NBA, but the pandemic-necessitated "bubble" provided researchers a unique opportunity to study g...

Aug172020 by adminNo Comments

Jazz, Nuggets to tip off playoffs in NBA’s Orlando bubble

Sports

Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The Utah Jazz will battle the Denver Nuggets in the first game of the NBA postseason Monday inside the league's protective bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Florida. Twenty-two teams began play inside Walt Disney World Resort on July 30 after the NBA suspended its season in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Six teams have since left the campus because they failed to make the playoffs after playing eight seeding games. Advertisement The Portland Trail Blazers were the final team to clinch a spot in the 16-team playoff field when they beat the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. All playoff games will be played at two arenas on the Orlando campus: the Field House and AventHealth Arena. The first round could l...