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thesportssoundoff · 6 years ago

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“No but seriously, he has one eye” The Brawl For All Combatants Ordered Out!

So a few weeks ago, I presented you with a beginning outline of what I'm aiming to do here. A chance to take a long look at the Brawl For All; a concept so insiduous that I imagine even Vince McMahon has aimed to bury it in the deepest recesses of his mind. The first time out we looked at its genesis, the concepts and the back stories beyond the concepts:

http://thesportssoundoff.tumblr.com/post/183395306465/what-happens-when-you-take-a-bad-idea-and-make-it

NOW let's take a long look at who participated, who didn't participate and the fallacy behind the entire project IF rumors are to be believed.

A Hot Take To Lead Us Off

This is something I long theorized but a long look at the people involved in the Brawl For All confirmed it for me. So by and large, the Brawl For All was a stupid dumb concept. Agreed, right? Well what if it could've worked elsewhere? Now again the rules are dumb, the genesis behind it was dumb, everything about it from stem to stern is full of stupidity. Allow me to argue that it COULD have worked; just not in the WWF. When you see the roster the WWF was working with here, it's not going to blow you away on paper and we obviously have a mighty fine idea of how the execution went. What about a different Brawl For All roster? Saaay (in 1998 when this happened):

Rick or Scott Steiner- Decorated All American wrestlers for the University of Michigan Scott Norton- Legitimate tough guy bad ass professional arm wrestler, former bodyguard of Prince Jerry Flynn- Taekwando practitioner, former mixed martial artist Earnest Miller- Three time karate champion Glacier- Professional karate man dude prior to pro wrestling Brian Knobbs/Jerry Saggs- The JBL's of WCW in more ways than one seemingly Meng- All time legendary tough guy and bar room savage Barbarian- Genuine tough guy El Dandy- Jam Up Guy Serious Professional All Around Good Man

Plus the other litany of guys who were noted shooters or tough guys on the undercard. Let's also be fair and note that the South was a touch more receptive to the UFC at this point in time than say the East Coast as well. Perhaps it could've worked with a better roster and perhaps WCW, with its glut of shooters and tough guys respected in the industry, would've been better suited for a Brawl For All.

Or maybe it's just a stupid fucking idea with no merit. That too.

So who DIDN'T participate?

Well let's start with the very beginning and work our way back. Let's talk about some of the guys who just opted NOT to participate. For starters, the big stars were obviously not going to partake in this. Right off the jump you have to assume Undertaker, Austin, DX, The Rock, Kane, Mankind, Vader and the like are not going to be participating. This was about giving a bunch of guys they kind of didn't give a shit about something to do so that meant no sacrificing top stars. It was filler programming and obviously everybody doing important shit was busy doing important shit. Also of note was that the WWF did not want originally the likes of Dan Severn, Steve Blackman and Ken Shamrock in it. Ken apparently wasn't interested and made the argument that it didn't benefit him given the fact that he was a genuine UFC star still to take a pit stop in pro wrestling. At the same time, Dan Severn was asked not to participate at first and then had to be coerced into taking a spot when injuries happened. The same goes for Steve Blackman who was signed up after a few drop outs occurred, primarily due to the promise of Blackman being allowed to throw kicks in the tournament. The dropouts are hard to pinpoint but Tiger Ali Singh is one of the more notorious ones per Bob Holly. I've also read around that Ahmed Johnson was at one point supposed to be in it but I've never been able to confirm that (or remember the shoot interview that it was mentioned in). The point is that on its face, the Brawl For All was going to be a shoot fighting tournament without the two genuine proven shoot fighters in case you're curious about the true idea behind it.

Also as an MMA fan, I can't help but notice the # of "I was a last minute addition" stories these guys have. Lord knows that has to be a common thing said by guys like Sean Shelby and Mick Maynerd to get some of these fights done. I'd imagine that "We need a guy and you're going to help us out!" sweet talk happens to this day. My immediate thought is that they were either a) having a tough time filling spots in the Brawl For All and started telling people they were in need of last minute additions or b) most of these guys regret doing it and figure saying they were last minute replacements helps take the edge off.

So who WAS in?

We got sixteen names so buckle up and pour a drink or two.

8-Ball- Ron Harris aka 1/2 of The Blu Brothers aka Vince Russo's Creative Control. Vince Russo has never been a master of subtlety and so I suppose it's no surprise that one of his top angles was "Gang Warz" pitting an all white stable (The DOA) vs an all Puerto Rican tag team (Los Boricuas) vs a mostly all black tag team (the Nation Of Domination). Needless to say, Vince Russo makes it hard to defend him sometimes. To my knowledge neither Ron nor brother Don have any sort of proven fighting experience and the less said about them (and their tattoos), the better off we'll be. Ron (and Don) were rumored to have threatened Shawn Michaels on their last night in the WWF in the 90s, a rumor that seems to be corroborated by at least a few folks.

Steve Blackman- Most of the dudes who talk about the Brawl For All admit that this guy probably wins it all things being equal. Blackman had a legit karate background with some muay thai and amateur wrestling mixed in. Besides Blackman somehow overcame being bedridden for two years with malaria to become a legitimate pro wrestler so needless to say if it's a "Who wants it more?" shoot type deal, he's going to cover the grit and grind department well. Blackman is also rumored to have once taken down The Big Show and held him down until Show begged him to let him up which is akin to Bob Backlund apparently getting the Iron Sheik down and sitting on him until he either lost interest or was asked to let him up. Steve Blackman is by all intents and purposes a badass.

Bradshaw- Apparently the inspiration behind this atrocity depending upon who you ask. Bradshaw's reputation is marred now with incidents of bullying (real or fabricated), pro wrasslin' racism (goosestepping in Germany to get heat, some other old school heel shenanigans) and borderline dangerous behavior like blindsiding the Blue Meanie and beating the shit out of him when Meanie thought it was a working brawl. At this point though, none of that is really widespread and Bradshaw is just a fake Stan Hansen who looks tough and stiffs the hell out of people. He's about to eventually turn into a mute member of the Undertaker's industry before he comes a heel mercenary for hire before they turn into FUN beer drinking cigar smoking mercenaries for hire before turning into a Wall Street rich Texan chasing Mexicans "at the border" to get heat for a feud with Eddie Guerrero. I suppose you cant say Bradshaw didn't earn it at least.

Brakkus- Wooof. Brakkus was a massive German bodybuilder who apparently didn't quite understand that the Brawl For All wasn't worked. The WWF had big plans for Brakkus (if they send you to Memphis to work for Lawler in the USWA, it probably means they had a long term vision for him) but he sucked and no matter where they sent him, he continued to suck. He was bad in Memphis, was bad in ECW and ultimately this feels like an attempt to just do something with him. Again though, how good you are as a pro wrestler doesn't matter in the Brawl For All. It was about legit fighting----and Brakkus apparently according to Savio Vega had no idea he was in a real fight. Keep that in mind.

Mark Canterbury- I have NO idea why Henry O. Godwinn is listed on wikipedia by his real name but fuck it, here he is! So full blindspot up front, I LOVED Henry O' Godwinn as a kid. He carried around a slop bucket, poured what looked like puke on people, wrestled in overalls which helped him stand out and it sort of gets lost in the fact that he was given a dumb gimmick (In the mid 90s, it felt like the WWE was acknowledging how big of a slide it was in because every human being had a side hustle) that Godwinn could absolutely work. Here's Godwinn vs Bret Hart in a killer match btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9vihPkNmLM. This was before Vince Russo and company turned them from a fun midcard act into a gross-ish play on Vince McMahon's distaste for southerners. Oh and also! Henry Godwin PROBABLY is doing this with a still kinda broken neck. He broke it in 1997, was told to take three months or more off (Godwinn gives numbers ranging from ten weeks to sixteen weeks) and he just showed back up in less than two months to work through it. Keep that in mind.

Droz- A tragic story all in all which we'll get to eventually. Droz at this point is basically coming out of a dead angle with the LOD where he was written in storyline to be feeding drugs (and whatever else) to Road Warrior Hawk in an attempt to take his place in the Legion Of Doom. If it sounds awful it's because it was and while MAYBE a good writer can make that work, we're talking about the WWF in 1998 trying to soap opera a drug pusher/drug abuse victim angle. It ultimately ended with Droz shoving Road Warrior Hawk off the titantron while Hawk was attempting to commit suicide. Again, it's as bad as you'd believe. Droz had a college football background but that's about it unless I missed some boxing or kickboxing background.

The Godfather- By all accounts the Godfather is a badass. He was hip to MMA before the UFC really caught on, was a freakishly devoted bodybuilder and he just looks like the sort of guy who would take very little shit from anybody. The Godfather is about to become THE Godfather as he's transitioning from Kama Mustafa and the Nation Of Domination's actually good muscle enforcer (Mark Henry is bad around this time and would continue to be such until about 2009 or so) but at this point I'd imagine the writing is on the wall for most of the NOD guys that the Rock is about to leave them in the dust and this group is going to theoretically die a death. The Godfather is about to take a seriously big turn but FIRST, the Brawl For All!

Bart Gunn- At this point, Bart Gunn is doing nothing. Basically nothing. One could even say less than nothing. Bart Gunn is in The New Midnight Express, an angle that Vince Russo has claimed was apparently a way to shut up Jim Cornette and prove to him that old style wrestling couldn't work in 1998. Bart Gunn was apart of the Smoking Gunns and according to him, he had toughman contest experience. Apparently Bart Gunn got brought into the Brawl For All because Kevin Kelly had seen him wear out big guys in Tampa and per Billy Gunn, Bart was the sort of dude who could wipe out a bar room full of people if need be. That said it's not like Bart had any boxing experience or what have you.

Hawk- Another noted tough dude and one of pro wrestling's weirdest mysteries. Every old school dude be it Kevin Sullivan, Jim Cornette or Paul Heyman raves about Hawk as a talent and claims he could've been a major marquee attraction as a singles wrestler. Kevin Sullivan in particular claims that had he had the opportunity to work with Hawk and freshen him up as a singles wrestler, he could've been an Undertaker-esque attraction who drew money across multiple character iterations. Hawk is coming off his personal demons storyline which I mentioned before that sucked. At this point, he and Animal have broken down and are in serious need of repairs from a physical and character standpoint.

Bob Holly- Bradshaw and Bob Holly in the same tournament and somehow they didn't face off? In 2019, I imagine people would be rooting for a double KO (although Bob's image has softened with fans since leaving the WWE) but at this point Bob Holly is just trying to figure shit out in his career. He's teaming with Bart Gunn in the New Midnight Express after sputtering out (HA HA) as a race car driver. Bob Holly is another dude who by in large is just known as a tough guy with a bit of a bully streak tendency behind that reputation. Owner of the wrestling world famous "YOU GOT TWENTY FOUR HOURS TO LEARN HOW TO FIGHT, BITCH!" threat to Rene Dupree before he kicked the shit out of him over parking tickets.

Marc Mero- The story of Marc Mero is a rough one with a happy ending. Marc Mero was really over in WCW as Johnny B. Badd, a Little Richard knock off with a Badd Blaster that shot confetti. Johnny B. Badd was so over that Vince paid him big money to be Johnny B. Badd----only for someone to smarten him up that Johnny B. Badd was a WCW trademark so he had paid for a guy who was trained from jump to do ONE role his whole career. Marc Mero was pretty over and underrated as a wrestler (I SWEAR BY THIS) before his knees gave in. Making matters worse for him was that his wife, Rena, was the women's face of the Attitude Era as Sable. According to Jim Cornette, Marc Mero was trying to be a good husband and help get his super over wife even MORE over---so he took a powerbomb from her on TV. Mero's future big money opponent was Stone Cold who happened to be ��watching the show at the time from home. Apparently Austin called up Vince McMahon and immediately asked who he would be working with on next week's Raw since he wasn't going to do any business with Mero after eating a powerbomb on TV from his wife. I don't know if this was before or after the Brawl For All though so take that for what it's worth. Either way, Mero is doing a boxing gimmick now (he is apparently a reputable legit golden gloves champion) and so it makes sense he'd be in the Brawl For All.

Pierre- This is a real shootfight tournament. Actual punches are being thrown and takedowns are implemented. This is, again, a legitimate shoot fight----and so of course one of the dudes involved in the shoot fight is missing an eye. Quebeccer Pierre/Pierre Carl Oulette/Jon Pierre Lefitte is missing an eye and was competing in a shoot tournament WITH one eye. We're not talking Michael Bisping fighting with a damaged eye for years on end, we're talking about an actual lack of an eye. This happened, people. We'll talk more about Pierre (and his amazing story in 2019) but right now in 1998, he's JAG who is bouncing between WCW and WWF looking for something to do. He's also at this point known as the guy who refused to put Kevin Nash over in 1995 despite Nash being the face of the company. PCO is the original Bret Hart, refusing to job in Canada.

Scorpio- I gotta admit I have no idea what Scorpio is doing here. I bet he doesn't know either if we're being truthful. Scorpio is one of those guys who was ahead of his time but seemed incapable of staying on the right path (whatever that means in wrestling) to get what he was due. He had come into the WWF in 1997 as Flash Funk and so I imagine Flash Funk was over and he's just killing time until the Job Squad angle. Scorpio is apparently a legit tough guy (or madman depending on who you ask) and held a 1-0 unofficial record over Hawk after he beat the shit out of him in WCW.

Dan Severn- Dan Severn was told he wouldn't even be allowed to participate and then was told the day OF the taping that he was needed to take a spot. Severn is not too far removed from being a UFC everything (champion, tournament winner etc etc) and so he's for the most part a prospective favorite. That's probably why he wasn't asked to compete at first I'd imagine since the plan was PERHAPS to get somebody else over. Another rumor is that Severn is such a boring plain dude with a boring plain style (Severn admits his plan was to never throw a punch and just grapple people) that if he had won, there would've been no payoff in it.

Savio Vega- I have NO idea if Savio Vegas has a professional sports background or what the deal was. Apparently Savio Vegas asked to be in it and was also the unofficial official matchmaker (he drew the names out of a hat) and he's Puerto Rican so he's got my rooting interest right away. I think Los Boricuas at this point were in full swing and Savio was obviously the head of said stable. Gang Warz was dumb as hell.

Steve Williams- And we reach the FINAL name. "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Steve Williams was a former football player at the University of Oklahoma and one of the more decorated wrestlers in Oklahoma history. He had carved out a niche in Japan by this point after establishing himself as a star in Mid South with the occasional stop off in the NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions/various regional feds and start ups. Williams didn't have any official fighting background but he was a crazy good wrestler and by all accounts a ridiculous bad ass. Jim Cornette tells stories of Dr. Death fighting fans and laying bodies to waste with little to no effort. He was also extremely popular with people in the WWF office, namely Jim Ross and Jim Cornette. Bruce Prichard doesn't QUITE say that the WWF thought Dr. Death would win the Brawl For All but he does a damn good enough impression of Jim Ross advocating for Steve Williams that I have to believe it. Vince Russo has spoken in the past about Steve Williams being Jim Ross' "boy" and how this was basically his way of seeing whether Jim Ross was right. Bob Holly has said that they were already doing vignettes with Barry Switzer and interviews as if Dr. Death won the Brawl For All. Dr. Death claims that the Triple H push of 1999 was the one Vince had promised him before the Brawl For All.

All of this brings me to my final point.....

Dr. Death was never going to be a big star in the WWF

I truly hate to speak ill of the dead and I'm trying hard no to either. Let's just speak from a more realistic pragmatic grounded stance. The kind of talent that was getting over in 1999 falls into three distinct categories. The first were talkers, guys and gals who could rap so to speak and had tremendous presence. Promo guys could carry the day and even IF you gave Dr. Death a Jim Ross to do the talking for him, let's not forget that by 1998 at this point in July there's basically just one manager actually doing anything as a talker and that's Paul Bearer. "Dr. Death" Steve Williams was not a talker and even if he was, he's certainly not the kind of talker who would fit in Vince McMahon's WWF. The second were guys who were big with "the look" according to Vince McMahon. Pull up a picture of every top star in 1998 for the WWF and then slide Dr. Death in there and ask if he fits the mold. He's unique for sure and there's the Mick Foley outlier----but imagine how long it took Mick Foley to be seen as legitimate by Vince McMahon. Even if Dr. Death is the definition of a Jim Ross style Hoss, he looks woefully out of date by 1998 standards. He in many ways, like a lot of guys who frequently toured Japan and basically were behind on the times, looked like he had been left in 1988. Lastly there were the gimmick guys; the Undertaker, Kane, The Rock, DX, Austin etc etc. Dr. Death's gimmick was that he was an ass kicker which is great but AGAIN we are to believe every human being in the WWF at this time is an ass kicker. Maybe Vince and company would've found a way to get something out of him but the chances are that Dr. Death would've never been a big star. Could he have feuded with Stone Cold? Surely! A big money draw? A multi million dollar hit? I just don't see it. Can't imagine it. Also let's be fair here, how toned down would his style have been for the WWF at the time as well? Is he going to suplex Steve Austin around after Stone Cold broke his neck? I'm not quite buying that either.

So there's your sixteen. You got a few amateur wrestlers ten years beyond their competitive days, a boxer or two, a toughman contest guy, a few dudes who dabbled in kickboxing and a man with legitimately one eye. You've got the guy who the company thinks SHOULD win it. So who won the fuckin' thing? How did they win it?

That's for next time.

#WWF #WWE #Brawl For All #Scorpio #Dr. Death #Steve Williams #Bart Gunn #Bob Holly

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uknewsdigest-blog · 6 years ago

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Week Commencing: 07/01/2019.

Mon:

- Businessman who hiked drug prices handed OBE: A multimillionaire whose company’s drug price rises have cost the NHS around £50m was handed an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list, The Times reports. Vijay Patel exploited a loophole in health service rules to increase the price of old medicines of which his firm, Atnahs, was the sole supplier by up to 2,500%. The hikes included upping the price of a packet of antidepressants from £5.71 to £154.

- British stars clean up at Golden Globe awards: Brits have fared well at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, with Olivia Colman, Christian Bale, Richard Madden and Ben Whishaw among the winners. Colman was honoured for her role in The Favourite, while English-American actor Bale won for playing ex-US Vice-President Dick Cheney in Vice. Bohemian Rhapsody, about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, picked up best actor and best film in the drama category.

Tue:

- Giant fatberg blocking sewer in Devon: The largest so-called fatberg ever found by South West Water is blocking the sewers of the coastal Devon town of Sidmouth and will take about eight weeks to remove. The obstruction is 210ft long – more than the height of the Leaning Tower of Pisa – and composed mostly of fat, wet wipes and grease. Work to remove it will begin in February.

- MPs complain to police after Soubry abused: At least 55 MPs have signed a letter to Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick expressing “serious concerns about the deteriorating public order and security situation” around Parliament, after Tory Anna Soubry was verbally abused and jostled by pro-Brexit campaigners. Labour’s Mary Creagh called the abuse “vile, misogynistic thuggery”.

- Millions of patients to see Skype doctors: Theresa May wants millions of patients to see their doctors via video-calling services such as Skype, in a bid to save billions of pounds as part of a “wholesale transformation of the NHS” announced yesterday. NHS England boss Simon Stevens said the current model of hospital appointments was both “outdated and unsustainable”.

- England needs three million new homes by 2040, says report: A report by a cross-party group of MPs says England needs three million new social homes by 2040 in order to save millions of people from a future in dangerous, overcrowded or otherwise unsuitable housing. If the recommendations are taken up, it would mean building more new council houses than in the 20 years after the War.

Wed:

- Army called in as drone disrupts Heathrow Airport: The UK military was called in to help police after sightings of a drone briefly halted flights at Heathrow Airport yesterday. The Metropolitan Police said it was deploying “significant resources” to monitor the airport after a drone was spotted shortly after 5pm. Departures were quickly stopped as a precaution, but were resumed an hour later, with the airport fully operational again by 10pm.

- Sexual abuse in childhood linked to raised suicide risk: People who suffered sexual or emotional abuse as children are two to three times more likely to kill themselves as adults, a new study has found. Academics from the University of Manchester and South Wales University analysed the results of 68 previous studies on the subject from around the world. Suicide prevention charity Papyrus said 70% of calls to its helpline were from people who had been abused during childhood.

- Tory claims London pollution charge will hit millions: The pollution charge being introduced in London could affect almost 2.5 million cars and vans a year, official figures suggest. London Mayor Sadiq Khan had previously stated that fewer than 60,000 vehicles a day would have to pay the £12.50 ultra-low emission zone fee, but Gareth Bacon, leader of the Conservative group on the London Assembly, has warned that the charges could be Khan’s “poll tax” moment.

- MPs vote to restrict no-deal Brexit options: A majority of MPs have signalled that they will not accept a “no-deal” Brexit by inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Government in the House of Commons. A total of 20 Tory MPs backed an amendment to the Finance Bill that would restrict the Government’s freedom to make no-deal Brexit tax changes without the “explicit consent” of Parliament, by 303 to 296 votes.

Thu:

- The Government has announced tightened regulations on the operation of drones, following major disruptions at some of the UK’s busiest airports, including chaos at Heathrow this week.

- Bercow vilified in newspapers over Brexit vote: Commons Speaker John Bercow is vilified in right-wing newspapers today, after allowing an amendment Brexit vote. The Sun dubs him “Speaker of the devil”, while the Daily Mail says he is a “disgrace to his office”. Bercow broke with precedent in allowing yesterday’s vote, which the Government lost - meaning it must provide an alternative EU deal within three days if it loses next week’s vote on Theresa May’s Brexit plan.

- Jaguar Land Rover to cut 5,000 jobs in UK: Jaguar Land Rover is cutting as many as 5,000 jobs in the UK in an attempt to save £2.5bn costs. The firm, which employs 40,000 people in Britain, says most of the jobs to go will be in marketing, management and administration. A “perfect storm” of falling demand for diesel cars and Brexit uncertainty is to blame, according to the BBC.

Fri:

- Rudd U-turns on proposal to cap child benefit: Amber Rudd has announced another U-turn on universal credit: she will not cap benefits for families with two or more children born before 2017. Child Poverty Action said it was “fantastically good news” but called for the two-child cap to be scrapped for all families. Rudd also said she was putting off rolling out universal credit.

Sat:

- Top Tory Brexiteers believe Britain won't leave EU: Leading Tory donors who spent millions on the Brexit campaign say they now believe that Britain may not leave the EU. Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager who has given more than £870,000 to pro-Leave groups, said: “My view is that it ain’t going to happen. I just can’t see how it happens with that configuration of parliament.” Two other key donors made similar predictions.

- Minister: stopping Brexit would empower the far-right: Blocking Brexit could empower far-right extremists, says the transport secretary. Chris Grayling says that failing to leave the European Union would lead the 17m people who voted for Brexit to feel “cheated”, ending centuries of “moderate” politics in the UK. He said it would also provoke more “nasty” incidents of intimidation.

- Prisons minister: short sentences should be scrapped: Prison sentences of six months or less should be scrapped, says the prisons minister. Rory Stewart argues that the move would ease pressure on prisons and be better for offenders, reports the Daily Telegraph. He said that ”very short” jail terms were ”long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you”, adding: ”You bring somebody in for three or four weeks, they lose their house, their job, their family, their reputation”.

- Charity warns over plan to scrap free TV licence for elderly: Abolishing the free TV licence for over-75s could push 50,000 older people into poverty, according to Age UK. After the broadcaster opened a consultation on whether to start charging older people the £150.50-a-year fee, the charity said such a move could harm the elderly, “potentially forcing them to cut back on other essentials such as heating and food in order to remain informed, entertained, stimulated and connected to the world beyond their doorstep”.

Sun:

- Row over Church's appointment of resurrection denier: Controversy has erupted after the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby appointed as his ambassador to the Vatican a priest who denies the physical resurrection of Jesus. The Rev Dr John Shepherd said that the resurrection of Jesus “ought not to be seen in physical terms but as a new spiritual reality”. A former chaplain to the Queen said: “You cannot call yourself an orthodox Christian if you don’t believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus.”

- Rise in UK children in gender-title switches: Children as young as 10 are having their gender changed by deed poll. Over the past five years, the UK Deed Poll Service has seen a surge in the number of parents paying £35 to alter their child’s title from “Miss to Master” or “Master to Miss”. Around one under-16-year-old is making the change every day.

- NHS landed with £1m compensation bill for Savile victims: The NHS has a £1m bill for compensating victims of Jimmy Savile after the late broadcaster’s estate contributed just £53,000. Over a 50-year period, the TV and radio personality raped and assaulted scores of patients, staff and visitors in 41 hospitals, a children’s home and a hospice. He passed away in 2011 before his crimes were revealed, and was reported to have had an estate worth at least £4m.

- Arrest after child killed in hit-and-run collision: Detectives have arrested a man after an 11-year-old boy was killed in a hit-and-run collision in Manchester. The child was treated by paramedics at the scene in the Beswick area of the city but died of his injuries later in hospital. Police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

#news #uknews #nhs #brexit

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topbirthdaybasket-blog · 6 years ago

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This is my uncle's funeral and you are telling me that there won't be no flowers because of this screw up. Not only am i livid about this Situation but the truth that the customer support crew was completely rude to me over the state of affairs and took no alternative to Grasp where i used to be coming from is insane to me. Additionally, the fact that nobody at the company might let me know earlier than The flower outlets closed that these flower orders could not be fulfilled is ridiculous. You can keep flowers fresh by trimming ends and altering the water every single day. Catherine, duchess of cambridge, holds her son Prince george of cambridge following his christening at chapel royal in st james's palace in central london, oct. Due to the issues With supply Flowers For Birthdays and the truth that the precise floral association was not even close to the one pictured on avas flowers' web site (even Considering that florists might have completely different flowers readily available), i requested a refund. Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, attends a garden social gathering at buckingham palace in london on june 10, 2014. Store flowers to find the perfect floral gift to ship to have a good time right now's big day. Prince william wore the irish guards mounted Officer's uniform to his 2011 nuptials, however consultants are not sure if prince harry will put on his navy uniform. Within the Philippines, a coming-of-age social gathering called a debut is held for ladies on their 18th birthday, and for boys on their twenty first Birthday. Worth: from you flowers has bouquets and preparations priced at lower than $30. Waited all day nonetheless no flowers. Send flowers now and let someone know that you just care.

#Birthday Gifts For MomBirth FlowersBirthday Flowers For Her

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chiefbearddreamland · 3 years ago

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The advantages of Industrial sweeping

The present COVID-19 crisis has brought a few more things into limelight. This event has shaped the future of the commercial cleaning. Keeping your business place clean can bring about a difference in the number of clients you retain or growing the number of your client base. It is therefore important for you to ask for the help of the professionals so as to ensure that your warehouse space is in the best of conditions. Most of the professional cleaning companies offer a specific type of service that caters to all the different industrial locations that include warehouses, plants and storage facilities. Industrial cleaning includes the disinfection of the factory floor, up-keeping of the adjacent office spaces and maintenance of heavy machinery.

Understanding the importance of industrial cleaning

Investing in any kind of service during the pandemic might not be a very wise decision whether it is redesigning your office space or installing new machinery. Most of the industries have taken a hit during the pandemic. But industrial cleaning is important..

If you want to know about some of the advantages of industrial cleaning, you can go through the list given below:

Industrial cleaning increases the productivity

If the work environment is clean and healthy, it will increase the productivity of the workers. The workers will be able to take pride in their work place. If the work place is cleaned regularly, it will prevent the building up of chemicals, pollutants, pathogens and mold. All these can have a negative impact on the employees. You should therefore hire the services of professional cleaners to keep the work place clean. A good company will also provide the best Car Park Cleaning Canterbury.

Industrial cleaning lessens the chances of maintenance and repairs

Your property is filled with equipment and machinery and these are used heavily on a daily basis. If these industrial tools and equipment are clean, they will be in the best of conditions. Therefore, you will be able to minimize the maintenance and repair amounts. Thus, this also reduces the downtime of the working hours which will finally boost the overall productivity. If you hire the services of the best Warehouse Cleaners Christchurch, it will certainly benefit you.

The industrial cleaning services are quite comprehensive and also thorough

Your property might include several areas that might get contaminated. The comprehensive industrial cleaning services of a good company will cover the entire property. These services include:

· Dust collector cleaning

· Exhaust cleaning

· Duct cleaning

· Chemical clean up

· Hood exhaust systems

· High pressure cleaning

· Heat exchanger and tube cleaning

· Vessel and tank cleaning

The industrial cleaning services of a reputed company are designed in a way so that they meet all the regulations and the standards and they provide their services to all the different types of industries that include:

· Factories

· Warehouses

· Storage facilities

· Manufacturers

· Factories

The most important thing is that you should hire the best Industrial Sweeping Canterbury. This way you will be able to enjoy high quality industrial cleaning services.

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localizee · 3 years ago

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Our team of expert plumbers are certified in providing professional services for your home or business.

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freshstartfromscratch · 2 years ago

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I love it, and it has definitely nothing to do with the fact that I love cats.

Yeah. It sucked to be a cat in the medieval western Europe. Especially during any plague.

Poor meow meows.

The cat-hating thing was more of a lower classes thing so Maria, as a fancy English lady, probably was more accepting of cats. She'd probably be aware of their mousing skills but it's possible that she'd consider cats gross. Maybe even because if the mousing skills.

Clergy and nobility were more like modern people when it comes to the concept of pets. Many monasteries kept cats because:

1. Rodents extermination.

2. Companionship.

For example an anonymous Irish monk wrote a poem about the monastery cat Pangur Ban, in a 9th century.

The poem is adorable 10/10 would recommend reading.

I adore the idea of a cat-person Altaïr and a dog-person Maria.

Unlike cats, dogs in Europe had a high position in society. Europeans absolutely loved dogs and said that this species has only one flaw - it doesn't live long enough. Dogs were buried at the feet of the owner after the death of both. In Canterbury Cathedral alongside Edward the Black Prince in his tomb are buried his dogs - Jakke and Terri. Rich people kept their dogs in special kennels, that we're heated during the winter. It wasn't uncommon to see the owners favorite dogs roaming the palace and sometimes sleeping with their master or mistress. Mind you married couples didn't sleep together every night back then. Dogs would come with their owners to churches and even though the barking was interrupting the mass, clergy was powerless in making people leave their dogs outside.

Since she's a noblewoman she 100% had a lap dog in England. It was a standard at that time. According to what I could find the 13th century lap dog looked mostly like a modern pug but with longer nose.

Since we know from Bloodlines that she likes hunting she'd probably have several greyhounds.

According to the internet, dogs are concerned "unclean" in Islam and you can keep them only for hunting and guarding but not as a pet. the concept of a lap dog would be as shocking to Altaïr as Masyaf full of cats would be to Maria.

The spoilt English noblewoman part of her would probably like to have a little lap dog for company again. Especially since her husband is a busy person and she's not constantly travelling again. Altaïr wouldn't be a fan of this idea and 100% would suggest a cat instead. Maria didn't like the idea.

We know that Maria wanted acceptance and we all know how dogs never judge their owners. This dog or dogs were probably her emotional support for years so she's a dog lover.

Meanwhile Altaïr is just like 'idk I like pussy' I'm dumb I'm sorry but this pun was stronger than me

He was a scholar, especially later in life, so he'd have cats (because mice ate books) and I Can't help it but imagine Altaïr as the kind of a cat owner who'd share his food while eating with his pet.

I'm a firm believer that even though Altaïr is a 100% cat person, he gave his wife Saluki.

It's a noble dog and she's a noblewoman after all. Ok this is the last pun I swear.

Saluki are appreciated for their fidelity, hunting abilities, companionship and beauty. Sometimes they're even called "a royalty among hounds".

another fun cultural difference to think about for altaïr and maria: cats are considered the quintessential pet in muslim culture and are allowed to enter homes and mosques. in medieval europe they were demonized by the church bc of their previous connection with pagan cultures so they painted cats as agents of satan and pests and even if maria wasn’t a zealot she probably would’ve grown up considering cats as pests or vermin.

i like to imagine masyaf swarming with kitties and maria stepping in and going damn bitch you live like this?

#assassin's creed headcanons #assassin's creed imagine #ac1 #maria thorpe #altaïr ibn la'ahad #pets #i swear they were the kind of people who say to their partners that no pets on the bed and later they end up sleeping with them #I headcanon that cats absolutely adore Maria but she's not a big fan

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rootsgardens24 · 3 years ago

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Is Your Air Conditioning Leaking Water Inside Your Home? Here's Why and What You Can Do About It

It is important to conduct maintenance for your heating and air conditioning Ashford unit regularly to avoid nasty water leaks into your home and lengthen the lifespan of your air conditioning unit. Some people tolerate leaking AC units by placing buckets under the affected area or towels. While this is an acceptable solution while you are waiting for the repair date, you really should not prolong the repair or cleaning for more than a week. Drain clogs A leaky heating and air conditioning Canterbury unit can be an indication that your water drain is already clogged. Over time, sometimes in a matter of less than six months, the drain gets blocked by mold and other debris. This pushes your air conditioner to bring back the condensation into your home instead of out through the drain pipe. Not only is this dangerous for your air conditioner, it is also detrimental to your lungs. You need to call professionals to look at your air conditioning unit if you do not know how to clean this yourself with a wet and dry vacuum. Low refrigerant Your air conditioning unit might also have a low level of refrigerant. This builds up the pressure on your outdoor unit and makes the water freeze. As a result, it just ends up as a floody mess on your floor instead of actually helping to cool down the air in your room. A good indication of this happening is the inability of your heat and air conditioning Ashford unit to produce cool air. This repair is impossible to perform without the help of a professional. Rusty pan Very old air conditioning units must also have rusty pans. If the pans are deteriorated, it will cause all the water to spill into your home. If you have an old air conditioner, you might want to replace the unit with a better model that also consumes less energy. It might look like a big expense upfront but you will be saving a lot of money in the long run. Broken drain pump Air conditioning units have pumps installed to suck out the water produced by condensation so it is redirected to the outside portal or drain. If this pump is broken, water will just collect and eventually overflow indoors. This will not just mess up your floor. It can also mess up the unit itself. If you suspect this is the case, contact a professional as soon as possible. Incorrect installation Do you have a window-type air conditioner? Most heat and air conditioning Canterbury repair companies get called in to fix fairly new units because the installation was not correct. The unit might be sitting too straight through the wall, not allowing the condensed water to drain properly. This is why even with installations, it pays to hire professionals to do it correctly. Due for cleaning You need to clean the air filter of your air conditioner at least every month. The unit itself needs deep cleaning and maintenance every six months. This is especially true if you use your air conditioner daily. Do not neglect the cleaning routines because the air quality in your home is also affected when you miss out on the cleanings.

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mitchbeck · 4 years ago

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CANTLON: PLAYERS AND COACHES ARE ON THE MOVE

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - It's the time of year that moving companies love when it comes to the hockey industry. Coaches and players are both moving all over the place. Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack/New York Ranger Sylvain Lefebvre. After being hired as an assistant coach for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, he leaves the San Diego Gulls. Lefebvre is the second assistant coach to leave former Hartford Whalers' great, Kevin Dineen’s staff. Ex-Pack, David Urquhart, returned to Montreal to be the head coach at McGill University (OUAAA). Alex Tanguay, an Iowa Wild assistant coach signs with the Detroit Red Wings.

KRAKEN AND CHECKERS WORKING TOGETHER

The expansion Seattle Kraken announced they would have a dual affiliation arrangement with the Charlotte Checkers for their first season in 2021-22 while building a new facility in Palm Springs that's currently under construction. The irony is that current Seattle General Manager and Whaler great, Ron Francis, had a six-year relationship with Charlotte while he was with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Checkers were the Hurricane's AHL affiliates up until last season. They and are now in Chicago with the Wolves. The Kraken will likely send 8 players, but that number could climb to as many as 12 players to the Checkers. Francis has been operating at his North Carolina home since the COVID pandemic started. The team will supply the Checkers with an assistant coach who will likely become the first head coach of the Kraken's Palm Springs (CA) affiliate when they come on board in their brand new 10,000 seat arena in 2022-23. It will be the second straight year that the Florida Panthers will have a dual affiliation. Last season the defending Stanley Cup champions and current finalist, Tampa Bay Lightning, shared the Syracuse Crunch.

NHL DRAFT

The Seattle Expansion Draft is set for Wednesday, July 21 at 8 pm and broadcast on ESPN2 in Seattle. The entire NHL Draft is held and broadcast over two days, with the first round covered across the US by NBCSN. For the second year in a row, the draft will be done remotely. On Saturday, the NHL Network will broadcast rounds 2-7. NBCSN is going to be closing shop soon. The draft broadcast team will be composed of members of their staff and ESPN/Turner Sports, where hockey coverage is going to be moving forward, as well as TSN in Canada talent.

KARMANOS NO LONGER AN NHL OWNER

The NHL announced Carolina Hurricanes majority owner Tom Dundon completed his acquisition of the remaining minority ownership stake of Peter Karmanos. As a result, Dundon is now the sole owner of the team. The transaction formally ends Karmanos' relationship with the Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers that began in 1994.

AHL NEWS

The AHL Board Of Governors (BOG) approved and announced the sale of the Rockford IceHogs to the Chicago Blackhawks. Read more about that HERE. The AHL BOG then announced that the City of Abbotsford and the Vancouver Canucks had finalized the lease for the AHL team and that the Aquillini Investment Group (AIG) arena management portion of the deal. AIG is the parent company of the Vancouver Canucks. The Abbotsford Centre is a multi-purpose entertainment and sports facility. Aquilini Investment Group will manage staffing, event bookings, ticketing, and food and beverage management. More on that deal HERE. Revenue sharing is also included in the contract. The city benefits from enhanced financial gains by sharing profits if there are an average of 5,000 tickets sold per regular season game.

MOVEMENT

Ex-Pack Brian Gibbons (Salisbury Prep) leaves Lausanne HC (Switzerland-LNA) to play for Linköping HC (Sweden-SHL) next season. Adam Musil, the nephew of former Whaler and Ranger Bobby Holik, switches teams in the Czech Republic, going from HC Liberec to HC Dynamo Pardubice. Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger (now Islanders) goalie Kevin Poulin leaves IF Bjorkloven (Sweden-Allsvenskan) and signs a one-year AHL deal with the Laval Rocket. The UCONN Huskies will be getting defensive depth next season in Jarrod Gourley, a grad transfer defenseman from NCAA Divison-1 independent Arizona State University (ASU). He is the 51st NCAA grad transfer in the hectic college hockey off-season that has seen 108 players switch schools via school or grad transfers. Gourley is a left-handed shooter who hails from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He will be in Storrs in a few months. The 22-year-old is undrafted, and his younger brother, Connor Gourley, is currently playing with Camrose (AJHL) and will be at ASU next year. Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) added veteran coach Mike Corbett as the new assistant coach for the Bobcats. Corbett coached Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA) for the last seven years.

GUITE AND OTHER MOVES

Ex-Sound Tiger Ben Guité, who has been with his alma mater an assistant and associate head coach with the Maine Black Bears (HE) for eight years, did not have his contract renewed. Guite was named the interim head coach in May after the sudden passing of one-time Yale assistant Dennis “Red” Gendron. UMASS assistant coach Bill Barr was hired in early June as the new head coach. Sadly, the WCHA Men's Hockey conference is shutting down after 70 years. They lost seven schools to the new CCHA and saw the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the University of Alaska-Anchorage went dark this year. The University of Alaska-Fairbanks will play as a Division-1 independent next season. It's possible that in the next couple of years that the WCHA will return as a true Western-based US college conference. The WCHA women’s conference will continue as is.

PLAYERS CALLING MOVING VANS

Nic Pierog (Canterbury Prep/Sound Tigers) leaves the Indy Fuel (ECHL) and signs with HKM Zloven (Slovakia-SLEL) for next season. Leaving HKM, the defending Slovak league champion is ex-Pack, Allan MacPherson who departs for HC Kosice (Slovakia). Ex-Sound Tiger, Jesse Graham, leaves KalPa Kuopio (Finland-FEL) and signs with Augsburger (Germany-DEL). On his new team and also switching clubs is Marek Bartunas. He is the cousin to Matej Baca, the nephew of former Whaler Jergus Baca. The younger Baca is returning to HK 32 Liptovsky (Slovakia-SLEL) after being traded last year in mid-season. Ex-Sound Tiger Tomas Malec, who nears the end of his career at age 39, drops down from the Czech Elite League HC Brno to HC Brno-B (Division-3). Former UCONN Husky, Spencer Naas, departs Tranås AIF (Sweden HockeyEttan Division-1) for HC Amiens (France-FREL).

US WORLD JUNIOR TEAM NEWS

The 44-player tryout camp for the United States World Junior Team is set to play July 24-31 in the World Junior Summer Showcase at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. Included on the roster for defense is Scott Morrow (Darien). He will head to the defending national champion, UMASS-Amherst (HE), in the fall. Morrow, has played for the Shattuck’s St. Mary’s program for the last three years. A WJC returnee from the Bronze medal-winning squad from last year is Jake Sanderson, the son of former Whaler great Geoff Sanderson. He skates for North Dakota (NCHC). Another returnee, but at forward, is Rangers draft pick Brett Berard of Providence College (HE). He is the son of former UCONN head coach David Berard, now the Director of Administration at PC. The elder Berard played as an undergrad, graduated from PC, and was an assistant coach for twelve years. He is no relation to former NHL’er Bryan Berard. There is also Matthew “Mackie” Samoskevitch (Newtown). He is heading to the University of Michigan (Big 10) in the fall and is NHL Draft eligible this year. Lastly, a sophomore from Quinnipiac University (ECACHL), Ty Smilanic, a draft pick of the Florida Panthers last year. The WJC tournament will run from December 26th through January 5th in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. USA Hockey named its roster and coaches for 2021 Hlinka Cup in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia. There is just one local name associated with the team, Assistant Coach Jared Walman, from Hamden, Connecticut.

CHL DRAFT NEWS

The 30th annual CHL (Canadian Hockey League) Import Draft that involves the three Canadian major junior leagues was held early this year. Normally it's held a week after the NHL Draft. 85 players were selected, including 52 forwards, 26 defensemen, and seven goalies were chosen by 57 teams compromised of the OHL, QMJHL, and the WHL. The top three countries to have players selected were Russia with 16, the Czech Republic with 15, and Belarus taking 11. Just two players had Connecticut connections. UCONN defenseman Yan Kuznetsov, who left school two years early after signing an entry-level deal with the Calgary Flames, played six games with the AHL Stockton Heat, who, because of Covid-19, played their games in Calgary last season. Kuznetsov was taken in the first round (22nd overall) by the QMJHL Saint John (NB) Sea Dogs. Kuznetsov is 6’4 and 225 lbs. He will not be turning 20-years-of-age until March 2022. He is still Russia WJC eligible, so he could wind up in the Q getting valuable playing minutes depending on the organizational depth in Stockton. 6' tall defenseman David Spacek is the other player selected with a connection to Connecticut. He was taken in the second round (67th overall), is a right-hander, and was selected by the QMJHL Sherbrooke Phoenix. Spacek 18, is the son of former Beast of New Haven defenseman Jaroslav Spacek. He played last year for HC Litomerice (Czech Republic Division-2). He is signed to play for HC Plzen (Pilsner) in the Czech U-20 league this year and is WJC eligible. His father is the national team assistant coach and is also an assistant with HC Plzen with the Czech Elite League (CEL) team. He could play in the Q get playing time like Kuznetsov, but the NHL Draft in three weeks will likely play a factor in where he goes if he is drafted. NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE HOME Read the full article

#2011–12WestVirginiaMountaineersmen'sbasketballteam #2012BigTenConferenceMen'sBasketballTournament #2013CONCACAFGoldCup #2013NHLEntryDraft #2013StanleyCupplayoffs

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amp-age-blog · 7 years ago

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Welcome to the ICE age

When the first electric cars started quietly and conveniently moving people from A to B about 130 years ago, who would have imagined that in 2018 we would be grappling with the challenge of having to find an alternative? Generations have become accustomed to driving battery electric vehicles (BEV) but today, as we run out of lithium, we are on the cusp of a dramatic transition with more and more people opting for cars powered by internal combustion engines (ICE).

In this article, I find out from the experts the real facts behind shifting from the AMPage – the era of BEV - to the ICEage – the advent of the internal combustion engine. What does this mean for us as consumers, for society, and for our planet?

Consumer acceptance To understand what the coming ICEage means for consumers, I spoke to Bob Thomson, the smartly-dressed and avuncular Director of Marketing for Anderson-Morrison Motors NZ .

“I have real concerns about consumer acceptance of ICE-age cars,” explains Bob in his office at the Moorhouse Avenue dealership of the global automative giant Anderson & Morrison Motors. “Are people going to want the smell and inconvenience of refuelling with volatile and potentially carcinogenic liquid fuel? We’re told the risk when refuelling is very low but still it’s a concern many people have.”

Bob goes on, “But it gets worse. I had a customer in the showroom last week and she wasn’t the first to ask me about the combustion gases from ICEage cars. I explained that it’s mostly harmless nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide. After all, nitrogen already makes up 78% of the air around us, we all exhale carbon dioxide, and we’re made up of more than 50% water already. But she’d done her homework and she asked me about carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, hydrocarbons and particulates.”

Bob sighs, shifts in his seat uncomfortably and glances out of the window. “She’d read that these could be bad for your health and asked me where the gases were expelled from the car. ‘It’s fine’, I said, ‘they escape from a pipe at the back of the vehicle so you don’t breathe them in’. ‘What about the people in the car behind you?’ she asked.”

As our brief interview wraps up, Bob explains that after safety concerns, the next issue for customers considering buying an ICEage car is often the vibration. “As a manufacturer, AMM has put a lot of work into dampening the noise and shaking from the explosions and reciprocating metal parts that are an unavoidable part of this new technology. I’m sure that as ICEage cars become more common place people will get used to the unexpected noise at start-up and the cars will get quieter. For instance, in some of the premium models coming onto the market it’s still going to be possible to take a hands-free call while driving – just like you do today in your BEV. The sound proofing technology will trickle down to more budget models in time.”

As I left Bob he was taking a call from the dealership insurers, anxious to discuss the risk to customers and staff of carbon monoxide poisoning in the showroom.

Impact on your wallet To get a different take on the possible implications of consumers moving away from the conventional BEV fleet, I caught up with Sophie Matthews, Professor of Economics at Christchurch University in Canterbury. Sophie explains, “Like most working kiwi families, we budget for the big expense in owning an BEV: battery replacement. Battery degradation is now so well-understood and predictable that most households can budget for replacement years in advance. But we expect to see much more spent on unplanned maintenance of ICEage cars along with a much higher turnover of ICEage car ownership as reliability concerns kick-in once the warranty expires. Overall, our projections suggest that car ownership costs will climb steeply and, for some, this will cause real financial hardship.”

Another potential kicker for consumers is the degradation in efficiency of internal combustion engines over time. “Most new ICEage cars are guaranteed for up to 100,000km but there’s no escaping the fact that from the moment you drive off the car yard the efficiency and performance starts to decline. Today, consumers can easily follow the degradation of their BEV battery by just looking at the dashboard. But it’s much harder to measure efficiency loss in ICEage cars without the expense and complexity of a rolling road test rig. It’s like the boiling frog,” says Sophie, “if you heat the water slowly, the frog doesn’t notice and jump out. With ICEage cars, consumers will be buying more and more fuel and releasing more and more emissions just to travel the same distance but they probably won’t notice.”

Community considerations Sophie, who grew up in central Otago, has been modelling the likely economic impact of the ICEage on rural communities around New Zealand. “There will be winners and losers,” she explains. “Many small towns and settlements in New Zealand have grown up around their BEV charging points. In the early days of BEV, the relatively limited range meant that travellers had to stop and charge up quite frequently. That’s why we have the amazing network of awesome cafes and eateries distributed so evenly around our countryside that we enjoy today. People can - and do - stop just about anywhere to charge up their car and grab a coffee or lunch.”

Sophie’s research assistant hands us both a flat white before Sophie continues. “What many people haven’t realised yet is that you need a heck of a lot more capital to build a refuelling station for an ICEage car – large bunded tanks, pumps, safety gear. Most small communities won’t be able to afford one. Combine that with the fact that ICEage cars will have a longer range from the outset, and it seems highly likely that refuelling points will only be installed in areas of relatively high population density. Given the capital required, I think we’ll see a lot of ICEage refuelling points owned by the multi-national corporations that control the rest of the fuel supply chain and it’s hard to see how small businesses and communities won’t lose out. They’ll be bypassed in economic terms if not in terms of the environmental impacts of ICEage cars.”

Geopolitics in the ICEage We’re joined in Sophie’s sunny office by her colleague Tim Daniels, Professor of Geopolitics, and Jessie, his guide dog. Jessie settles quietly next to Tim as we exchange pleasantries about the weather and the state of the All Blacks squad. “ICEage cars are going to impact massively on global politics,” says Tim. “As the fleet of ICEage cars expands we’ll see exponential growth in demand for petroleum products derived from refining crude oil to fuel and lubricate them. Global reserves of crude oil are concentrated in some of the world’s most politically unstable regions such as the Middle East. Instead of having a transport system based on distributed energy generation, we’re going to become increasingly dependent on a small number of states that can supply global demand. We will see colossal shifts in the distribution of wealth and power.”

Grid anxiety Around the developed world, electricity generation and distribution has evolved in step with BEV. We take for granted the resilience that comes from a power grid that can draw from BEV batteries at times of peak demand and top them up again overnight when demand is lower. I talked to Gridworks Chief Operating Officer Juliet Mackenzie to find out more about the implications of our transport fleet shifting to ICEage vehicles.

With a high speed delivery Juliet explains, “Electricity demand is very spikey through the day and through the year. For decades now the electricity supply companies have offered consumers attractive deals to sell ‘surplus’ charge from EVs back in to the grid for example in the early evening after returning from work. Other people minimise their exposure to peak rate charges by drawing on spare charge in their BEV battery. Either way, we’ve become extremely adept at utilising the megawatts of distributed power sitting in BEV around the country to help smooth out the spikes.”

Juliet pauses and leads me across her office to a map of New Zealand’s proposed grid upgrade. “It may seem counterintuitive that the shift from BEV to ICEage cars is going to put more strain on the grid but that is the case,” says Juliet. “Although total annual demand for electricity will diminish, we’re going to have to invest in generation capacity and distribution infrastructure to manage the spikes. That means more power stations, more pylons and ultimately a less stable grid than we’ve enjoyed in the past. And to make matters worse, to reliably provide power for the spikes we’ll need generation capacity that is independent of weather and can come online rapidly. That means gas-fired power stations.”

The new energy distribution paradigm Over decades we’ve grown used to access to the power for our vehicles being distributed via the electricity grid to charging points at our shops, community centres, cafes and even our homes. With the advent of the ICEage, liquid petroleum products will become a much more siginficant part of the overall energy mix in New Zealand. To find out what this will mean in practice I headed to Hagley Park one frosty Christchurch morning to meet up with Brent Smith, the owner of a new petroleum start-up called Scottish Petrol and a keen early morning jogger. Brent was visiting New Zealand from his base in Inverness, where he has been raising capital for a new type of offshore installation for drilling for crude oil.

“Right now we’re in a wee bit of a chicken-and-egg situation,” says Brent. “No-one wants to invest in drilling technology until the refineries to process the crude oil are in place. The refineries won’t start springing up until the international super-tanker fleet – needed to shift crude from the oil fields to the refineries - has grown. Aye and once that’s all in place, we’ll need to see investment in the retail distribution network. Globally there are one or two countries looking at reticulated systems for distributing refined fuel but in most cases there’ll need to be fleets of road tankers. This is great for the emerging petroleum sector as these vehicles in themselves will create demand for fuel. It’s exciting times laddie.”

With that, Brent promptly stands up, shakes my hand and continues his morning jog around the park.

Climate change Much has been said about the potential impact of the arrival of the internal combustion engine on the planet. We know from use of jet-powered ships and aircraft that the gases produced from burning liquid fossil fuels can lead to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. To find out the latest on this hot topic, I tracked down Dr Richard West in his laboratory at the New Zealand Insitute for Climate Science in Wellington.

Richard has been studying climate change for 30 years and has no doubt that burning fossil fuels is a major contributing factor. “We’ve been modelling climate change for decades now and have seen the effect of using fossil fuels in jet-engined planes and boats. If Joseph Etienne Lenoir and Nikolaus Otto had come up with the internal combustion engine before the likes of Robert Anderson and William Morrison got busy making BEV, we might all have been driving ICEage cars for the past 100 years. Thankfully that’s not the case or we’d have gigatonnes more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than we already do today.”

Given that the world is running out of lithium, what alternatives are there except flipping the fleet to ICE? Richard explains, “People won’t give up their cars so we’re going to have to take this epic gamble that massively increasing use of fossil fuels isn’t going to have the impact that all our climate models say it will.”

Sadly, the impact of this seismic shift in our transport system won’t only effect the global climate system. At a local level, the air that we breathe will diminish in quality with a range of noxious gases and particulates likely to accumulate especially in urban areas. Rachel Goldstein – mother of lively 3 year old twins Erin and Alexi - lives in California, where state incentives for saving lithium by shifting to ICEage cars have been in place now for several years. I caught up with her by phone. “As more and more of my neighbours have ditched their BEV for ICEage cars the place has gotten way more noisy and polluted. From 5am every morning you can hear engines firing up and some days the smog by midday is unbearable.” Rachel tears-up as she goes on, “I don’t want my kids growing up with all these exhaust gases around them but what can you do? The authorities tell us the risks are small but I want to know why we can’t just find some more lithium and hang on to our BEV?”

Other environmental impacts “We’re going to have to dramatically increase exploration for oil deposits if we stand any chance of keeping up with projected demand for petrol.” I’m talking to Mandy Pringle, policy manager at Environment Wellington – a not-for-profit environmental charity. Sipping lattes on the waterfront on a chilly but unusually still Wellington morning, with the sun glinting off Lambton Harbour, it’s hard to grasp the magnitude of the the risks Mandy sees in ICEage cars.

She goes on, “That’s going to mean drilling in increasingly hazardous and environmentally fragile areas. A bit of a double-whammy as the risk of leaks and spills will increase in areas that are particularly poorly placed to cope with them. We’ll see new oil tanker routes opening up through sensitive areas and new coastal oil refineries along with a distribution network that serves a rapidly expanding retail market for fossil fuels. These all pose oil spill risks and we know how deterimental they are to the environment.”

Mandy takes another sip of her latte and adds, “And brake dust. I’m really worried about brake dust. You see, regenerative braking in BEV captures some of the ‘waste’ energy from decelerating and uses it to recharge the battery a bit. This results in less wear on the brakes. ICEage cars don’t do that. Instead, they rely mainly on friction between the brake linings and a rotors and turn the kinetic energy into heat. In the process, the linings and rotors wear down. The dust from worn brake linings can accumulate on the road network until you get a rain event and then it’s washed into the storm water system. Growing evidence points to the harm that the copper often used in brake linings can do to aquatic life. And then there’s the risk of oil leaking from the lubrication system of the ICEage cars and the question of what you do with the waste oil when it’s changed as part of routine servicing.”

Early adopter? To get a first hand experience of this new technology I rented an ICEage car for a week and tried to use it just as I use my BEV. Living in Canterbury and it being winter, the first thing I noticed was not being able to pre-warm the car in the garage. On a couple of particularly frigid mornings I was tempted to ignore the large sticker on the dashboard warning me of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. In the end, I just shifted the car out of the garage and let it run on the drive to warm up for a bit.

A must for any ICEage early adopter, I downloaded the PumpIt app so I knew exactly where I could buy petrol. At present there aren’t many filling stations and they’re mostly located on gloomy industrial estates because no-one really wants to live next to a large tank of explosive liquid with cars coming and going 24 hours a day. Compared to plugging in at home it seemed a bit inconvenient having to go out of my way to fill up but the pumps looked very much like a fast charging station. One important difference is that the fuel will flow out regardless of whether the nozzle is ‘plugged in’. I think that, along with the flammability, is why you need to be over 16 years old to refuel.

When I handed the car back at the end of the week and drove away in my BEV I became aware of an annoying interior rattle that I hadn’t heard before. I was reflecting that I wouldn’t be able to hear it in an ICEage vehicle thanks to all the other noise going on when I realised it was the keys for the loan car – I’d forgotten to drop them off. I turned the BEV around, handed over the keys and said to the man behind the rental counter, “When they can make them as convenient and easy to use as an BEV I might consider buying one.”

Afterthought The following sunny Sunday afternoon, accompanied by the quiet hum of my battery-powered lawn mower, I began to wonder whether internal combustion engines would one day be miniaturised and find their way into garden tools like mowers, hedge trimmers and weed eaters. But as my wife pointed out, it seems highly improbable that anyone – least of all the neighbours – would tolerate the noise pollution.

#electric vehicles #electric cars

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