Latest news with #Couch
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Exact date in weeks millions of Nationwide customers to get free £100 – check if you're eligible
Scroll on to find out if you qualify PAY BOOST Exact date in weeks millions of Nationwide customers to get free £100 – check if you're eligible MILLIONS of Nationwide customers are about to get a free £100 in their bank accounts in just weeks to come. The building society is handing out the cash as part of its Fairer Share scheme, rewarding loyal customers with a slice of a whopping £410million pot. 1 Nationwide customers could receive a free cash boost Credit: Getty If you qualify, the money will land between June 18 and July 4. The payment will go straight into your Nationwide current account, so you won't have to worry about any forms. To qualify, you must have opened your main current account with Nationwide by March 31 this year. On top of that, you'll need to either have a savings balance of £100 or more, or owe at least £100 on your mortgage by the same date. Plus, your account has to show some activity between January and March - so it can't just be sitting there gathering dust. An estimated four million people will pocket the payout this year. It will be the third year in a row Nationwide has rewarded customers in this way. Boss Debbie Crosbie said: 'Nationwide has had an outstanding twelve months. We returned a record £2.8billion in value to members and remain number one for customer service.' So if you're a regular Nationwide user and tick the right boxes then it's happy days. And if that wasn't enough, there's another sweetener on the table. Natwest Couch to Cash The 5k challenge The bank has just launched a £200 switching bonus for newbies, plus a Member Exclusive Bond that pays a tidy return. Anyone who saves the full £10,000 in the bond will bag £762.50 in interest over 18 months – that's £150 more than its next best offer. The £100 payment is separate from the £50 one-off bonus paid earlier this year to 12 million members. What if i don't bank with Nationwide? If you're not banking with Nationwide as yet, you will have to sit this one out unfortunately. However, it's not all doom and gloom. Other banks are getting in on the free cash action too. Santander is currently offering a free £180 for switching your current account over. TSB is giving new customers who switch to the high street bank a £100 switching incentive. You get the £100 upfront but if you spend on you debit card for 20 times in the first six months you get a £15 a month cash back. Co-op bank is also paying £175 to new customers. And its not just traditional banks offering up freebies. Customers can also cash in on free perks with popular digital banks.
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Science
- Indian Express
8 animals that ‘hibernate' in the summer
When we think of hibernation, we usually picture animals sleeping through the winter to escape the harsh cold. But did you know that some animals hibernate during the summer as well? This phenomenon, called aestivation (or estivation), is a survival strategy various species use to avoid extreme heat, drought, or food scarcity. Like winter hibernation, aestivation helps animals slow their metabolism and conserve energy until conditions improve. This strategy becomes crucial in dry or desert regions, where water and food are scarce during summer. Some key reasons why animals aestivate include: One of the most famous aestivators, the African lungfish, survives extreme droughts by burying itself in mud and secreting a protective mucus cocoon. It can remain in this state for up to four years until rains return and refill the water bodies. Native to North America's arid regions, the desert tortoise aestivates to escape the scorching desert heat. It digs burrows and remains inactive until the cooler months arrive, conserving water and energy. Many species of land snails, including the Roman snail, aestivate by sealing themselves inside their shells with a mucus layer to prevent water loss. This helps them survive dry summers in Mediterranean and desert climates. Some crocodile species, like the Australian freshwater crocodile, aestivate by digging into riverbanks or burrowing in mud when water sources dry up. They remain inactive until the rainy season replenishes their habitat. Certain amphibians, like the spotted salamander, aestivate when ponds or streams dry out. They burrow underground and stay dormant until conditions become favorable again. Frogs, especially those living in desert regions, aestivate to survive long dry periods. The Couch's spadefoot toad buries itself in the soil and remains dormant for months until rain triggers its reawakening. While most hedgehogs hibernate in winter, some species aestivate in extremely hot regions to avoid dehydration and heat stress. Even earthworms aestivate when soil becomes too dry. They burrow deeper into the ground, wrapping themselves in a protective mucus layer to retain moisture. While both hibernation and estivation involve a state of dormancy, they occur in different seasons and for different reasons:
Belfast Telegraph
6 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Stay Well: I want to start running again. What can I do to prevent injuries?
From beginners overdoing it via programmes like Couch To 5K (not going to lie – I got to 3K, hurt my knee, and went back to the couch) to ultra marathons runners pounding their bodies over challenging terrain, running is synonymous with injury.
New York Post
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Behind the glamorous — and often tragic — lives of Andy Warhol's muses
Earlier this year, Anthology Film Archives in the Lower East Side hosted a screening devoted to Naomi Levine. Touted by some as Andy Warhol's 'first female superstar,' Levine performed in many of the pop artist's early underground movies, like 1963's 'Tarzan and Jane Regained… Sort Of' and 1964's pornographic 'Couch.' Like many of Warhol's actors, she took off her clothes for his camera. Levine didn't care about fame, and never became famous, which is maybe why she doesn't even get a mention in Laurence Leamer's new book, 'Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine' (G.P. Putnam's Sons, out May 6). She doesn't fit with its thesis. 'Warhol's Muses' is the latest entry in a long line of books and movies about the artist and his band of misfits. Like many, it portrays Warhol as a leech who used and manipulated others for the sake of his art and celebrity. 9 Andy Warhol with members of the Velvet Underground, including one of his most iconic female muses, Nico (to his left). Gerard Malanga But here, Leamer focuses on Warhol's women: the ever-evolving coterie of glamazons who accompanied him to parties, appeared in his films, and 'helped turn the Pittsburgh-born son of Eastern European immigrants into international artist Andy Warhol.' 'They would raise his social cachet dramatically and bring him the publicity and public adulation he so desired,' Leamer writes. Warhol called these women his 'superstars.' They included rebellious heiresses like Edie Sedgwick, bohemian artists like Christa Päffgen, a.k.a . Nico, and gorgeous outsiders like the trans icon Candy Darling. They helped the shy, awkward, gay Warhol meet rich buyers and gave him a sheen of glamour. And then, per Leamer, he cast them aside when they proved no longer useful. In 1964, Warhol was a successful commercial artist. But his 'fine art' — the paintings of Campbell's soup cans and Brillo boxes — wasn't selling, and his movies had barely made a blip. 9 Candy Darling, Andy Warhol, and Sylvia Miles at a premiere at the Rivoli Theater in 1971. Bettmann Archive Then he met Jane Holzer, a 23-year-old socialite living in an Upper East Side mansion with her young real-estate mogul husband, bored out of her mind. Holzer grew up in privilege in Palm Beach, Fla., yet had a defiant streak. When Warhol asked if she would be in one of his movies, she said: 'Sure, anything's better than [being] a Park Avenue housewife.' She made out with two men for 'Kiss.' She brushed her teeth and chewed gum for various 'screen tests.' Fully clothed, she suggestively peeled and ate a banana in 'Couch,' stealing the film from the naked people around her. 9 Andy Warhol with Edie Sedgwick, lighting a cigarette on one of his film sets. Getty Images In the evenings, she accompanied Warhol to party after party. By that fall, she was a bona fide celebrity, her every move documented by the press, who named her 'Baby Jane.' Her fame boosted Warhol's own star power. His art started selling, and he was appearing on the gossip pages, too. After Holzer was deemed passé, Warhol found other 'muses.' Brigid Berlin, the 'rotund and always foulmouthed' daughter of the chairman of Hearst Corporation, who went by the name Brigid Polk, entertained Warhol with anecdotes about her dysfunctional childhood. 9 Noami Levine was one of Warhol's earliest muses, according to sources. Anthology Film Archives 9 Andy Warhol and superstars Candy Darling (left) and Ultra Violet are shown at a press conference n 1971. Bettmann Archive Susan Mary Hoffman, a k a Viva, 'the Lucille Ball of the underground,' injected 'wicked wit and savage intelligence' into his porniest flicks. Isabelle Collin Dufresne, an erudite French girl known by the moniker Ultra Violet, had previously bedded Salvador Dalí, Warhol's idol. Many of these 'superstars,' however, crashed and burned. Warhol's silver studio, dubbed The Factory, attracted all manner of druggies, misfits and hangers-on. They shot up amphetamines so they could stay up all night. They worked for little to no pay, screen-printing designs or debasing themselves as Warhol coolly captured them on film. 9 Edie Sedgwick frolics in the bath in one of Warhol's 'underground' movies. Bettmann Archive 9 Victor Hugo (left), Jane Holzer (rear), and Andy Warhol attended the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala, New York, New York, December 6, 1982. Getty Images Ingrid von Scheven, or Ingrid Superstar — a New Jersey secretary who sometimes turned tricks for money — ended up addicted to heroin after her stint at The Factory. In 1986, at the age of 42, she went out to buy a newspaper and vanished. Most notorious was Edie Sedgwick, the incandescent, damaged heiress who electrified 1960s New York with her silver hair, gamine beauty, and reckless extravagance. Warhol captured her haunting vulnerability on camera, filming her putting on makeup and smoking a cigarette. Leamer doesn't seem to think much of these movies, but they are mesmerizing and moving. She broke Warhol's heart when she went off with Bob Dylan. (She died of a drug overdose in 1971.) 9 'Warhol's Muses: The Artists, Misfits, and Superstars Destroyed by the Factory Fame Machine' is written by Laurence Leamer. By the time the radical feminist Valerie Solanas tried to assassinate Warhol in 1968, Leamer would have us believe that the artist had it coming. And yet, not all of Warhol's 'muses' were victims. Nico — the German model and actress — had tried to launch a singing career for years before Warhol installed her as the frontwoman for noisy art-rockers The Velvet Underground. Her association with the band lasted only one album, but she went on to have an iconic solo career. 9 Author Laurence Leamer focuses on Warhol's women: the ever-evolving coterie of glamazons who accompanied him to parties, appeared in his films. Jacek Gancarz Mary Woronov — an art student when she fell in with the Factory crowd — kicked her drug habit and continued acting in indie films through the 1970s, '80s, and '90s; she's still a painter in Los Angeles. Ultra Violet credited both Dalí and Warhol for her subsequent art career, and exhibited work till her death in 2014. As for Baby Jane, she survived her 15 minutes of fame. She now lives in Palm Beach, surrounded by her collection of Basquiats, Harings, and, yes, Warhols.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ferry crash: Pirate ship captain explains Coast Guard safety requirements
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Both the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Coast Guard are investigating to find out why two vessels collided Sunday, killing one person and injuring several others. It will be up to the Coast Guard to make sure their rules were followed on the ferry since it's a commercial vessel. Man dies, 10 hurt in Clearwater ferry crash T.J. Couch is the senior captain of the 'Lost Pearl,' a commercial vessel in Tampa. He brought 8 On Your Side onboard to give us a glimpse into what safety measures he's required to have by the Coast Guard. Couch said he's required to have life jackets for every person onboard and firefighting equipment. Should the vessel sink, he has to have what's called an 'emergency beacon.' 'It will auto deploy and immediately float away from the boat. It's tethered to the boat, and it transmits the location of the boat,' he explained. Couch said the Coast Guard has strict regulations for not only what's on board, but who's manning the ship. 'In the case of the license that I hold, I had to have 720 days underway on the water,' Couch explained. '10 full days of classroom instruction, drug testing.' He said the Coast Guard not only requires each of these safety measures but comes onboard his vessel every so often to make sure he's following their rules. 'There are annual inspections that take place where everything is verified and every other year, in case of passenger vessels, the vessel has to come out of the water and have its haul inspected by the Coast Guard,' Couch said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
