Latest news with #Connor
Wales Online
13 hours ago
- Climate
- Wales Online
Expert issues urgent warning over houseplants in heatwave
Expert issues urgent warning over houseplants in heatwave There are six simple things you can do to protect your houseplants at this time For lots of us, our house plants are our pride and joy - but there are a few key things to do if you want them to thrive during the warmer months (Image: Getty ) For lots of us, our house plants are our pride and joy, but we can often end up killing them with kindness by overwatering, or forgetting to look out for them during certain periods. And with parts of the UK facing temperatures soaring up to 30°C, paired with intense storms and sticky humidity, it's not just people who are feeling the heat - houseplants are under serious stress too. A yellow heat-health alert is in place across several regions including London, the South East, and East of England, as forecasters warn of rising temperatures and an unusually hot summer ahead. Beards & Daisies , one of the UK's leading houseplant companies, has offered essential advice for keeping your indoor jungle alive and thriving. Love dreamy Welsh homes? Sign up to our newsletter here The company's lead horticultural expert, Connor Towning, shared his best practical strategies to help your houseplants cope with extreme heat and unpredictable conditions. Six simple things you need to do to keep houseplants happy 1. Provide shade & avoid sun scorch: Move plants off direct afternoon sun, especially near south/west-facing windows. Use light blinds or sheer curtains. Connor said: 'Treat plants like people - you wouldn't sit in full sun midday, so shift them into indirect light or shade zones to prevent scorching.' Article continues below 2. Monitor soil moisture: Check the top 5 cm of soil daily. Water deeply when dry, better than frequent shallow sprinkles. 'If the compost feels dry an inch down, give it a good soak until water drains from the pot base' Connor recommends. 3. Increase humidity: Heat plus dry air from fans or AC stresses many houseplants. Connor suggests: 'Group humidity-loving plants together, use pebble trays, or lightly mist them in the morning. It protects against crisp leaf edges.' 4. Move plants away from radiators and vents: Avoid dry heat sources, keep a comfortable distance from radiators, hot air registers, or warm walls. 5. Adjust feeding schedule: Warm weather boosts growth, but feeding in the hottest part of the day can burn roots. Connor says: 'Feed in the early morning or evening with a diluted houseplant fertiliser, let plants absorb nutrients before heat kicks in.' 6. Rotate pots: Rotation helps even sun exposure. Connor adds: 'Turn round larger plants weekly, this encourages balanced growth and prevents one side from burning or wilting.' Advanced tips Consider potting in lighter mixes (e.g. peat‑free blends) and repot if soil is compacted to create better airflow and drainage. Good airflow also reduces heat stress. Another key tip is to watch out for pests, as heat-stressed plants are vulnerable to mealybugs or spider mites, meaning you should inspect them regularly and treat them early. Long term preparation Matching plants to their spots can be a huge help, as succulents can handle sun; whereas ferns and Calatheas prefer much more cooled, humid rooms like bathrooms. Having humidity aids at the ready could also be a lifesaver. Grab a mister, pebble tray, or small humidifier before temperatures spike. Article continues below Another key thing to do according to Beards & Daisies is to monitor forecasts, as this can make all the difference in terms of how to prepare and how to act quickly.
Irish Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Recalling the League of Ireland's Crazy Gang - short-lived yet brilliant team
It doesn't seem like 20 years since Dan Connor was being struck by broken vodka bottles, scoring FAI Cup winning pennos, being sneaked out of football grounds to avoid an angry mob, and making a name for himself as a potential international. Remember that period from 2003 to 2008? Drogheda were running away with the league and then running out of money; Waterford were a milder form of Wimbledon's Crazy Gang; too many clubs didn't know how to balance their books. Read more: Kylian Mbappe hospitalised as Real Madrid issue update on star's health Read more: Trent Alexander-Arnold accused of lying as he makes Real Madrid debut And in the middle of all this madness was a young keeper who decided to take the biggest gamble of his life. In England's League One, a footballer's wages were secure. You couldn't say that about the League of Ireland in that era. Yet Connor, a Dubliner, was attracted by the idea of stepping up from being a No2 keeper at Peterborough United to being a first-choice at Waterford. Jimmy McGough, a straight-talking Belfast man, called. He answered. Connor says: 'I'd never met anyone like Jimmy. He was the blood and thunder type and his training could be chaotic. Like, we'd play a five a side game and each team would have a football each. 'It was madness … but he knew how to man-manage. The team gelled. He was strong enough to allow senior pros have their say. I loved it.' Sometimes too much. Against Cork City, Waterford were cruising to a 3-0 win one night when Connor decided to sit on the ball midway through the match. The insult wasn't forgotten. A few months later he was at Turner's Cross. The Cork fans went nuts. A broken bottle was fired at him, hitting him on the leg, leaving a deep cut. This was the night the League experimented with Scottish officials. 'What's up with you, keeper?' the ref asked Connor. He pointed to the vodka bottle lying next to him; the blood dripping out of his leg. 'Throw it off the pitch and get on with the game,' the ref told him. And he did. That was how players acted in that era. League of Ireland players got on with things. So when McGeough's successor, Alan Reynolds, told him to take a crucial penalty midway through the FAI Cup semi-final at the Brandywell, Connor didn't blink. His opposite number, David Forde, did, however - diving to his right. Connor fired his shot left. Waterford won 2-1. That put them in the Cup final, which they led 1-0 late into the game before controversy struck when Longford's equaliser came after officials failed to stop the game when two footballs appeared on the pitch. Connor said: 'The fact we didn't complain is a testament to that group of players. There were no whingers. We were really young men and we just got on with things. 'The dejection was raw. It still hurts to this day to be honest. 'But looking at the overall picture, that group of players really bonded. There were no cliques. We probably socialised too much, either going out for meals together, for drinks after matches, for golf days, but we fought for one another on the pitch. Always. 'Maybe we were like the Crazy Gang - but definitely not as wild. Reynie was a great character. The lads loved him. It was a great time in our lives.' And better ones followed when he switched from Waterford to a Drogheda team who were on the cusp of something special. They were spending big money - more, it turned out, than they could ultimately afford - and a title winning team was put together by Paul Doolin who Connor describes as the League's 'first head coach'. 'What I mean by that is that the League of Ireland up until then was full of managers rather than coaches," he says. 'Paul was meticulous, so professional. Every minute was planned in training. Get an injury, you got the best medical care. We were prepped with video analysis at a time when that was rare enough. 'When we won the FAI Cup in 2005, we all kind of realised the potential the club had. The subsequent League winning side stemmed from that Cup win because of the confidence it gave us. 'And at the heart of everything was Paul. He should still be working in Irish football. Maybe I'm looking back with rose-tinted glasses because I am sure he brought me down a peg or two at times when I needed it, but the respect I have for his coaching is huge. He was a great manager.' It was Doolin who brought him to Cork City into the lion's den, the ground where he once had to be sneaked out the back door after an angry set of City fans waited to berate him at the main exit. That relationship soon mended: 'I've nothing bad to say about Cork City as a club. Their fans are great.' But things soon turned sour with the then chairman, Tom Coughlan. Connor says: 'We went months without getting paid. We had Christmas without any money. Santa had to be paid for; friends, family members helped us out. I dug deep into my savings. It was a case of surviving.' Yet this is where the Dan Connor story really takes off. He did survive that Christmas and then the hip injury which ultimately ended his playing career and hastened his journey into coaching, which began with Hereford United in 2012 and has continued since, via Shrewsbury, Wigan Athletic and Forest Green Rovers, where he has been a successful assistant manager. From 16 until now he has stayed in professional football - his best playing years spent in the League of Ireland where ultimately he'd love to return some day to manage in. Connor says: 'The League of Ireland is a great place. I loved it when I was there. I'm in touch with nearly all the managers there now. It has come on leaps and bounds.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Exynos 2600 曝光，GPU 提高 62%，性能可觀
文章來源： Samsung Exynos 2600 處理器細節數據被曝光，這款由採用 2nm 製程工藝的處理器在架構和性能上將會有非常明顯的變動。 🚨ERROR REPORT🚨 The E2600 expected score has been miscalculated with the condition of 10% mass production yield. I apologize for false reporting, and fixed to 40% (current Samsung 2nm yield) Geekbench 6 Single-Core: ~2950 Multi-Core: ~10,200 3DMark / GFX : Same as result — Connor/코너/コナー (@OreXda) June 17, 2025 爆料顯示，為了更好的平衡性能與能效表現，Exynos 2600 放棄採用現款 Exynos 2400 的十核架構，改為「2顆Cortex-X大核+6顆Cortex-A能效核」的八核設計，更貼近 Snapdragon 8 Elite 版的配置方案。 從該處理器的性能來看，其 Geekbench 6 單核跑分有望達到2400左右，多核成績約9400，較前代分別提升 20%和 15%，多任務處理與單核運算能力有明顯的提升。 Xclipse 960 在 GPU 性能方面表現不錯，3DMark Wild Life Extreme 測試成績有望達5800分，較前代 Xclipse 940 提升62%（NotebookCheck 數據），GFXBench Aztec Ruins 測試幀率有望達 85FPS（測試分辨率還未知），圖形渲染效率顯著提升，能更好地滿足高畫質遊戲等場景對性能的需求。 儘管 Samsung 2nm 代工工藝目前試產良率約30%，但 Exynos 2600 已啓動原型處理器批量生產。Samsung LSI 處理器設計部門與代工團隊正通過工藝優化全力提升良率，為該處理器後續大規模商用上市積極做準備。
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
'Feeling very positive' - fans on fixture schedule
We asked for your views on how the fixture schedule has fallen for Everton and where they could be after the first 10 are some of your comments:Connor: Everton are a club on the rise. We are gearing up for a lot of transfers all over the park, we have a manager who brings out the best in our players and we have a new stadium that no-one else has played at. I believe we will be pushing ninth place in the table after 10 games of the season as our first three games are winnable. We then have some harder fixtures and then a couple of other mid-table teams. I'm feeling very I know we have to play everyone twice but we seemed to have avoided a run of consecutive games against top six sides, which is refreshing!Graham: The first six games give us a chance of three or four wins. After 10 games, I would hope that we will comfortably be top half (maybe seventh). But it's about where we are come May - that I hope is possibly eighth or Another tough start. A must-win game against Leeds will ease pressure and a first win at home will be the icing on cake. We will get12 points from first six fixtures I think.
India Today
4 days ago
- Science
- India Today
Scientists finally find the universe's missing matter. It was hiding in plain space
The universe has two kinds of matter. There is invisible dark matter, known only because of its gravitational effects on a grand scale. And there is ordinary matter such as gas, dust, stars, planets and earthly things like cookie dough and estimate that ordinary matter makes up only about 15% of all matter, but have long struggled to document where all of it is located, with about half unaccounted for. With the help of powerful bursts of radio waves emanating from 69 locations in the cosmos, researchers now have found the "missing" sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. It was hiding primarily as thinly distributed gas spread out in the vast expanses between galaxies and was detected thanks to the effect the matter has on the radio waves traveling through space, the researchers said. This tenuous gas comprises the intergalactic medium, sort of a fog between previously had determined the total amount of ordinary matter using a calculation involving light observed that was left over from the Big Bang event roughly 13.8 billion years ago that initiated the universe. But they could not actually find half of this matter."So the question we've been grappling with was: Where is it hiding? The answer appears to be: in a diffuse wispy cosmic web, well away from galaxies," said Harvard University astronomy professor Liam Connor, lead author of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature researchers found that a smaller slice of the missing matter resides in the halos of diffuse material surrounding galaxies, including our Milky matter is composed of baryons, which are the subatomic particles protons and neutrons needed to build atoms."People, planets and stars are made of baryons. Dark matter, on the other hand, is a mysterious substance that makes up the bulk of the matter in the universe. We do not know what new particle or substance makes up dark matter. We know exactly what the ordinary matter is, we just didn't know where it was," Connor how did so much ordinary matter end up in the middle of nowhere? Vast amounts of gas are ejected from galaxies when massive stars explode in supernovas or when supermassive black holes inside galaxies "burp," expelling material after consuming stars or gas."If the universe were a more boring place, or the laws of physics were different, you might find that ordinary matter would all fall into galaxies, cool down, form stars, until every proton and neutron were a part of a star. But that's not what happens," Connor these violent physical processes are sloshing ordinary matter around across immense distances and consigning it to the cosmic wilderness. This gas is not in its usual state but rather in the form of plasma, with its electrons and protons mechanism used to detect and measure the missing ordinary matter involved phenomena called fast radio bursts, or FRBs - powerful pulses of radio waves emanating from faraway points in the universe. While their exact cause remains mysterious, a leading hypothesis is that they are produced by highly magnetized neutron stars, compact stellar embers left over after a massive star dies in a supernova light in radio wave frequencies travels from the source of the FRBs to Earth, it becomes dispersed into different wavelengths, just as a prism turns sunlight into a rainbow. The degree of this dispersion depends on how much matter is in the light's path, providing the mechanism for pinpointing and measuring matter where it otherwise would remain used radio waves traveling from 69 FRBs, 39 of which were discovered using a network of 110 telescopes located at Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory near Bishop, California, called the Deep Synoptic Array. The remaining 30 were discovered using other FRBs were located at distances up to 9.1 billion light-years from Earth, the farthest of these on record. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).advertisementWith all the ordinary matter now accounted for, the researchers were able to determine its distribution. About 76% resides in intergalactic space, about 15% in galaxy halos and the remaining 9% concentrated within galaxies, primarily as stars or gas."We can now move on to even more important mysteries regarding the ordinary matter in the universe," Connor said. "And beyond that: what is the nature of dark matter and why is it so difficult to measure directly?"
