31.01.19 A daily coffee fix is a staple part of the day for millions of people around the world. But with a growing awareness of the damage being done to the environment by single-use plastic takeaway cups, reusable cups are taking off in a big way. In Australia, famed for its unique coffee culture, ever more elaborate and expensive resuable coffee cups are becoming the norm. Experts say quirky cups are becoming a unique social signifier.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190122-the-rise-of-the-posh-coffee-cup

are taking off  = are getting more and more popular

27.01.19 Coverage of certain subjects are almost 100% false: Putin, Russia, Syria and Ukraine stand out. But much of the coverage of China and Iran also. Many things about Israel are not permitted. The Russia collusion story is (privately) admitted to be fake by an outlet that covers it non stop. Anything Trump is so heavily flavoured that it's inedible. And it's not getting any better: PC is shutting doors everywhere and the Russian-centred "fake news" meme is shutting more. Science is settled but genders are not and we must be vigilant against the "Russian disinformation war". Every day brings us a step closer to a mono media of the One Correct Opinion. All for the Best Possible Motives, of course.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/01/08/back-to-ussr-how-to-read-western-news.html

23.01.19 What's wrong about Cambridge? Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. Cambridge is the fourth-oldest surviving university in the world. Cambridge has produced, so far, 90 Nobel prize winners - and Cambridge, this educational powerhouse, just might not be where I want to go.There's no escaping the fact that Cambridge is a majority white and majority posh (!) institution.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-46950952

21.01.19 A WESTERN JOURNALIST ASKS A RHETORICAL QUESTION:

Has any Western news outlet reported, say, these ten true statements?

1. People in Crimea are pretty happy to be in Russia.

2. The US and its minions have given an enormous amount of weapons to jihadists.

3. Elections in Russia reflect popular opinion polling.

4. There really are a frightening number of well-armed nazis in Ukraine.

5. Assad is pretty popular in Syria.

6. The US and its minions smashed Raqqa to bits.

7. The official Skripal story makes very little sense.

8. Ukraine is much worse off, by any measurement, now than before Maidan.

9. Russia actually had several thousand troops in Crimea before Maidan.

10. There's a documentary that exposes Browder that he keeps people from seeing.

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20190117/244404870.html

17.01.19 While samba is the famous sound of Brazil, all the inhos and inhas flying around in their daily chatter are a photo-finish second. Literally, they make something smaller, effectively softening a word, turning it cute and gentle. And while in English diminutives are often seen as a little childish (kitty, doggy, mummy), everyone in Brazil, from politicians to medical doctors, use them without any hint of irony.

For a country so famous for its big stuff – the Amazon, Christ the Redeemer and Carnival – Brazil can, in a funny way, be thought of as the land of the tiny. Practically no word is immune from diminution.

Caminhos Language School Portuguese professor Jean Fonseca told me that there are even diminutives that have turned into other words entirely. Camisa is the word for shirt in Portuguese, so camisinha would naturally lead you to believe that it’s a little shirt. Wrong. In Brazil, camisinha is in fact the popular name for a condom, a term employed to make the topic of safe sex more approachable.

“It was used as a strategy to popularise the condom among the people,” Fonseca said. “The original name ‘preservativo’ was nicknamed a ‘camisa-de-vênus’ (Venus’ shirt) after the Roman goddess of love. This then became ‘camisinha’.”

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190114-why-brazilians-love-baby-talk

13.01.19 The message may turn out obscure and its meaning evaporates if you get it imbued with repetition:

 May, responding to a question, mentioned the word ‘deal’ seven times in just two sentences. She uttered it once every six words during a 25-second response.

"The only way to avoid no deal is to have a deal and to agree a deal," she said. "And the deal that is on the table, the deal that is the deal that the EU has made clear is the only deal.

"There's an issue that's been raised about the backstop and we're continuing to work with the EU on that particular issue.

"But there is a good deal on the table, and for those who want to avoid no deal then backing the deal is the thing to do."

https://www.euronews.com/2019/01/10/brexit-on-the-brain-uk-pm-may-repeats-deal-seven-times-in-41-words

11.01.19 Asked to characterize Putin and Trump in one word PM of Canada called the former “problematic” and the latter “unpredictable” thus showing the amazing capacity of human brain to compress the maximum of impression and expression into the minimum of verbal matter.

https://www.theloop.ca/ctvnews/full-transcript-trudeau-on-putin-being-problematic-possible-pullout-from-saudi-deal/

7.01.19 Both the English original and its translation into Russian raise concerns about the exorbitant reliance on ambivalence:

The Trump administration and the State Department appreciate the need to resort to new measures in order to counteract Ukraine’s economic and political death spiral. The first step to halt Ukraine’s plummet into chaos should be the process of internal Ukrainian reconciliation.

It is unfortunate that Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, had taken the course towards legal persecution of his political opponents. This persecution is carried out using utilitarian means counter to the rule of law. As a former Soviet regime, Ukraine has a history of using its law enforcement institutions to do its political bidding, relying on unsavory methods to reach political objectives.

https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/01/04/the-only-way-out-for-ukraine-is-national-reconciliation-not-political-persecution/

Aдминистрация Трампа и Госдепартамент осознают необходимость прибегнуть к новым мерам для противодействия экономического и политического разрушительного хаоса на Украины. Первым шагом, чтобы остановить погружение Украины в хаос, должен стать процесс внутреннего украинского примирения.

К сожалению, президент Украины Петр Порошенко взял курс на юридическое преследование своих политических оппонентов. Это преследование осуществляется с использованием утилитарных средств, противоречащих верховенству права. Как бывший советский режим, Украина имеет историю использования своих правоохранительных учреждений для выполнения реализации политических требований, опираясь на сомнительные методы для достижения политических целей.

https://inosmi.ru/politic/20190106/244349243.html

3.01.19 Look at the uncertain correspondences below (underlined): 

My jaw clenches when Hulu videos buffer. I huff and puff when stuck in a sluggish line at a coffee shop. Slow cars in the fast lane send me into a curse-filled tizzy. I’m ashamed how quickly I lose my cool over these minor things. I’ve often wished I could be a more patient person, but it’s overwhelming to know where to start.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/smarter-living/how-to-be-a-more-patient-person.html?fallback=0&recId=1CsXLmxFYC83q234HC9bLtEzItq&locked=0&geoContinent=EU&geoRegion=MOW&recAlloc=most_popular&geoCountry=RU&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=689620345&action=click&module=Most%20Popular&pgtype=Homepage

Всякий раз, когда на Hulu (американский видеосервис прим.ред.) зависает видео, я невольно стискиваю зубы. Я начинаю закипать, застряв в вялотекущей очереди в кафе. Неторопливые автомобилисты на скоростной полосе вызывают у меня поток ругательств. Мне самой стыдно, что я настолько легко теряю самообладание из-за мелочей. Мне всегда хотелось быть более терпеливым человеком. Но с чего начать?

1.01.19 The BBC is always in time with its piece of advice:

"whenever I can feel the lingering effects of a hangover, I seek out a pickle shop. At a mere 1 TL for a glass, it’s much more natural and cheaper than any painkiller".

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181218-turkeys-magical-hangover-cure