1. Halloween comes from the ancient Irish festival of Samhain, a day when the undead are thought to walk among the living, and we must ward off the evil spirits2. Samhain marks the end of the long days, and the drawing in of winter. In the same way the Celts celebrated Lughnasa, the festival bringing in the harvest, Samhain represents the beginning of winter, the "darker half" of the year.

3. An old favorite Irish Halloween game was to blindfold a person and have them place their hand on items spread across a table. Landing in a bowl of water meant emigration, a piece of earth meant a death in the family, a ring meant a wedding was coming soon, and so on4. One of the greatest short stories by James Joyce ‘Clay,’ refers to this custom – the main character, the spinster Maria, wants her hand to land on a ring, but touches a lump of clay instead, which implies death.

5. In a similar game, a ring was also hidden in the "Barmbrack," which is a bread-like fruitcake specially made for the occasion. The person who got the ring in their slice – if they didn't swallow it – would have a happy marriage ahead.

6. The symbolism behind appleseeds, and bobbing for apples, is fertility in the year ahead. The Celts believed that the pentagram shape represented fertility, and when an apple is cut in half, the seeds form a pentagram-like shape. When couples bobbed for apples together on Halloween, if one of them caught one, they would soon be blessed with a child. 

7. In Celtic legend, orange and black, the colours of Halloween, are the colours of death.

8. Because of number 7, meeting an orange-haired woman was thought of as a bad omen, especially for fishermen. Legend further has it that for a man to meet an orange -haired woman on Halloween was even more dire. He had to turn around and go right back home.

9. Druidswere especially powerful on Halloween, when the spirit world and human world was closest. Their visions and predictions were listened to quite closely at this time.

10. The custom of Halloween was brought to America by Irish famine emigrants in the 1840s. The use of pumpkins for Jack-o-lanterns only started in America, as they are native to the country. In Ireland, they usually used turnips instead.

*Originally published in October 2010.

Halloween facts

Another name for trick-or-treating is guising. It evolved from a Celtic tradition. They would put food and treats out for spirits they believed roamed the streets during Samhain. Samhain was a festival to mark the end of the Celtic calendar each year.

The Christian roots of trick-or-treating are different than the Celtic roots. They called it ‘souling' which was a medieval Christian ritual of going door to door, exchanging prayers for the dead for soul cakes.

Some believe that Halloween has pagan roots while others believe it is completely from Christian roots.

It's believed that Halloween has been around for 6000 years.

All Hallows' Eve is the night before All Hallows' Day.

The first Jack-o-lanterns were not made from pumpkins. They were made from turnips.

The largest pumpkin was grown by Norm Crave. His pumpkin was 836 pounds and he broke the world record in 1993.

Commercially, Halloween is second only to Christmas in the amount of money spent.

Witch comes from the word 'wicce', an old English word that means 'wise woman'. Witches, or wiccan were once very respected. They held one of the two main meetings on Halloween.

A person with a fear of Halloween has samhainophobia.

Owls were once believed to be witches. An owl's call was thought to mean someone was going to die. This was a popular belief in Medieval Europe.

When the movie Halloween was made in 1978, the mask that Michael Meyers wore was actually a Star Trek mask of William Shatner. The producers of the movie were on a tight budget.

The first time trick-or-treating was mentioned in North America in print was in 1927, in Alberta, Canada. The town's name was Blackie.

The colors most common on Halloween are black and orange. Black is a symbol of darkness and death, while orange is a symbol of endurance and strength, often associated with autumn and harvest.

The black color so popular on Halloween is a reminder that Halloween itself was a festival marking the border between life and death.

Harry Houdini, possibly the most famous magician in history, died on Halloween night in 1926. His death was the result of three stomach punches that brought on appendicitis.

Legend states that if you put your clothes on inside out and walk backwards on Halloween, you'll see a witch at midnight.

Halloween facts because of the night that's in it
1. Ancient plant
Pumpkins are perhaps the oldest domesticated plants on Earth, with archaeological and botanical evidence suggesting that people cultivated pumpkins as far back as 10,000 B.C., said Cindy Ott, an American studies professor at Saint Louis University in Missouri, and the author of "Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon," (University of Washington Press, 2012). The first cultivated pumpkins, which were small, hard gourds that bear little resemblance to the fleshy orange giants of today, likely originated in the highlands of Oaxaca in Mexico.

From this video alone this looks like an amazing game. The hotly anticipated Shadow of Mordor has been building up speed in the last few weeks and it already looks to be a huge release but I'll let you make up your own mind from the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aX2_Sl_4v0

Super Metroid

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlu5Mx-9wwU

Even with the limitations of the SNES, back in 1994 Nintendo created what has to be one of the greatest endings ever made, and the number one entry here. The final battle with Mother Brain is just so brilliant. The battle itself is tricky, but when Mother Brain drains Samus almost to death, only for the young Metroid encountered earlier to rush in to Samus' rescue, in turn giving Samus a super-powered laser beam, you couldn't help but sit there, almost falling off your seat. With Mother Brain destroyed by this beam, which was amazingly satisfying with each head-whipping blast, the whole planet is set to blow and Samus has a very short time to escape. It's a mad rush to her ship, with the planet exploding around her.
Once off the planet, it explodes, then the game ranks players, and depending on how well you did, you'd see a slightly different ending, with the best rating showing Samus in a bathing suit.
What makes this ending so impressive is the amount of impact it has, even when using such limited tech. The final battle blends in perfectly with the ongoing story of the last Metroid in captivity, which sees Samus as a mother figure, and the seamless transition to evacuating the planet produces an adrenaline-pumping finale. Arguably, the actual ending is the rating and congratulations screens, but here Nintendo does what many new games fail to do. It puts you in control of the whole ending, making a final boss fight so much more. Pure brilliance.

BioShock Infinite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPmzA_cRMgM 

As twists in gaming go, few have ever approached the genius that was the original BioShock (would you kindly?), but Irrational Games at the very least equalled it with BioShock Infinite's ending. After your long struggle against Comstock, during which you witness all of the worst flavours of humanity, such as greed, racism, segregation, exploitation and more, you find out that Booker is, in fact, Comstock! Wait, what?
Yes, Booker is a younger version of Comstock, who travelled between universes, each of which features versions of Booker and Elizabeth after different choices were made. Elizabeth is also actually Anna DeWitt, Booker's own daughter.
At one point in the past, Booker became Comstock (during a baptism to atone for his sins during the war), and to stop his terrible actions in the future, Elizabeth explains that they must intervene. Booker proceeds to be baptised in the past, allowing several different Elizabeth's (from different realities) to drown him, thus ending the atrocities that would be committed by his future self. Yep, that's pretty heavy stuff, and made for one hell of a great game ending.

Red Dead Redemption

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU1vbPbm9r4 

The ending to Rockstar's much adored western tale is quite fitting, given the treacherous setting of the game. Despite struggling through the entire game, overcoming all sorts of crazy odds and deadly gunfights, the game's hero, John Marston, eventually succumbs to the nasty Edgar Ross. After saving his family, and knowing he'll never see them again, Marston confronts his killers, only to be cut down by gunfire. It's a pretty gruesome death scene, and one that's very well delivered. No dialogue is needed, just Marston's last few breaths.
Jack, out to get vengeance for his father's death, tracks down Ross years later, and kills him in a duel. The game then shows what happened to the rest of the story's major characters.
Killing off the main protagonist of a several hour long story is a risky way to end a game, and unless it's done right, it can be easy for such an ending to fall into the cheap shock category, and an easy way to fake an emotional connection. Red Dead Redemption, however, did things right. John didn't die in a selfish or mundane, action way, he died defending his family, in a story that unfolded to this point very well, in a believable manner. You genuinely feel moved by Marston's death as he gives his all to ensure the survival of his loved ones, and as Jack, you also get to seek revenge. A great ending.

Zelda: Ocarina Of Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upksegfWJeY 

As one of the greatest series of all time, Zelda is a gaming titan, one that's graced every Nintendo platform since the NES. Arguably the best game in the series is the fantastic Ocarina Of Time, originally released for the Nintendo 64.
After the brilliant boss fight against Gannondorf, and eventually his monstrous form of Ganon, the sages seal Gannondorf away, and with Zelda now safe, she and Link bid farewell. Zelda sends adult Link back to his younger days, safe in the knowledge that, for now, the danger is over. After the credits, we see Link, now a child again, return to the Temple of Time, and Navi flies off into the sunlight. The credits end with bells ringing, as he camera pans over the Master Sword. Finally, young Link returns to the gardens to meet young Zelda.
The ending is good on it's own merits, but compared to some of the others here, not incredible. So, why is it number five? It deserves this place as this ending is actually where Nintendo officially split the Zelda timeline into three, and this changed the entire series, and helped to explain the crazy, convoluted timeline.
Three possible outcomes of the battle with Ganon were posed. In timeline A, known as the Adult Timeline, Link defeats Ganon, who is sealed in the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf escapes this seal, however, and causes a great flood. This leads to the Wind Waker timeline.
Timeline B, or the Child Timeline, sees Link preventing Ganon's acquisition of the Triforce, which he does after defeating Ganon and returning to his youthful years. Here he alters events, and changes the future. Ganondorf attacks Hyrule, but is defeated and banished to the Twilight Realm. Link leaves Hyrule, which leads to Majora's Mask, and in turn, Twilight Princess.
The final timeline, timeline C, sees Link fall to Ganondorf in the last battle of Ocarina of Time. With Link defeated, Ganondorf gains the Triforce, but is defeated by Zelda, and sealed away, along with the Triforce in the Sacred Realm. This realm soon becomes dark under Ganondorf's rule. This leads to the events of A Link to the Past.
The fact that a game series needs such setup to explain its many different instalments and their relation could be put down to bad planning (which is quite possibly was), but regardless, Zelda is a mammoth series with millions upon millions of fans and this is the ending that literally changed the game's world.

The Last Of Us

Much has been made of the ending to Naughty Dog's incredible title, The Last Of Us. Some found the ending to be a let down, and ill-fitting, whilst others can only applaud the developers for such a brilliant climax to the struggle of Joel and Ellie.
I'd have to say that I belong to the latter of the two groups. Although I understand that many have trouble believing that Joel, the hero, would commit such acts, including the gunning down of unarmed doctors in cold blood, I see it as an inevitable event.
The whole game is about the pair's struggle to survive against overwhelming odds in a horrible world. As they progress, they're forced to do increasingly questionable things to survive, and even Ellie, a young teenage girl, is forced to resort to violence to survive. As they both have to endure all of this together, they unavoidably grow closer, and form a strong friendship. Ellie is obviously another chance for Joel, who loses his own daughter in the game's devastating opener, to be a good father, and a good man. So, when she's in danger, he reacts as best he can and does whatever it takes to rescue her.
With a whole game as emotionally charged and as gripping as The Last Of Us, any ending was going to be difficult, and it certainly wouldn't please everyone, but it earns its place here with ease.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzPJd0aBEMg

One of my favorite games ever also has one of the best endings ever

Final Fantasy VII

It's another Final Fantasy, this time the entry that's by far the most popular in the series. Final Fantasy VII's ending is as crazy as the story, seeing everything Cloud and Co. go through being pretty much pointless, as the planet ups and rescues itself in the end anyway. Meteor is stopped by the power of the Lifestream, and everyone lives happily ever after. And we see Aerith one last time.
The major part of the ending that gets its place here, though, aside from Aerith's appearance, is the epic fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. The actual final battle is great, and difficult, but once defeated in this form, you get to take on Sephiroth one-on-one in a higher resolution battle that culminates in Cloud hitting his Omnislash special to finish off his effeminate foe. Great stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4_sw0trdNc

Video game endings

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is considered by some to be the last 'good' Final Fantasy game in the main series, and although that's all down to personal preference, one thing that's a certainty is the effectiveness of emotional sucker punch the game delivers as it's ending.
Much of the game's story revolves around the main characters of Tidus and Yuna, and their romantic relationship. What starts as a mere friendship turns, over the course of the game, into a bonafide romance, one that's handled quite well too. However, when the ending reveals that Tidus is not actually real, but a summoning of Spira's Fayth, it's more than a little heart wrenching, as the two are forced to say goodbye.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPeAseL_LkA 

Best Video game endings

Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II was a massive improvement over the original game, practically a whole new title in some aspects, but it continued the same story arc the first started, with an ending that was as creepy as it was brilliant.
When Ezio finally finds the vault, he discovers a place not entirely fitting with his time period. However, it's Minerva's turn towards the screen, announcing she's talking to you, not Ezio, that sends shivers down many people's spines. In fact, she actually means Desmond, not the player, but for a second, it's almost as if the game smashes the fourth wall.
We also learn of the greater plot, about the first civilisation, and the greater threat that's to come. Back on release, it gave the Creed series a far more interesting story undercurrent that would continue through to Desmond's last outing in Assassin's Creed III.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRzrP9dOC6M 

Oculus Rift appears to be well-poised to bring VR into the mainstream. After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign based on an early prototype, Oculus has secured venture funding, hired some of the biggest names in gaming tech, and been acquired by Facebook for billions. The company has gone from strength to strength in its short life, but the tech media has picked up on an equally impressive gaming company that appears to be working on VR tech of its own, and some have called it an Oculus killer: Valve.

Valve and Oculus: A Collaboration

The small, sporadic pieces of information that become available about Valve’s VR system often lead people to believe that they are releasing a competing product. Many believe that Valve’s head mounted display offers a better VR experience than that of Oculus. But an announcement in early 2014 made it clear that Valve is collaborating with Oculus Rift on its prototypes and sharing much of its research and development work in VR. In March 2014, Oculus hired Michael Abrash away from Valve; Abrash was one of the driving forces behind Valve’s VR research. While no-one has ruled out the possibility of Valve one day releasing a VR system, it appears that both the Crystal Cove and more recent Crescent Bay prototypes from Oculus Rift have used features gleaned from Valve’s research.

QR Codes

One much discussed feature from Valve’s VR system that isn’t in Oculus Rift is Valve’s “holodeck room.” Many reports from people who have tested Valve’s VR mention that the room the system is housed in have what appear to be QR codes printed on paper, and pasted all over the walls at various intervals. These visuals were used to provide inside-out head movement tracking using a camera on the head mounted display (HMD). Oculus appears to have solved this problem using an external mounted camera and an array of LEDs on the HMD. This appears to be an indication that Valve is focusing more on speculative research on improving the VR experience, where Oculus appears to be honing in on a readily sellable product with each subsequent release. A dedicated room with QR codes would be a tough sell to a consumer.

 

“The mobile market is where the action is these days. Why won’t Nintendo do the smart thing and put its games on iOS or Android platforms?”

It’s probably the most frequently-asked question outside of “Where do babies come from?” Here’s the simplest answer: Nintendo won’t put its games on iPhones, iPad, smartphones or tablets because it’s not the smart thing to do. Nintendo’s games still sell its systems, which grants the company a degree of control few game studios have.

The First King of the Portable Mountain

Nintendo’s an old company. As far as its history as a console manufacturer goes, it’s practically ancient. Under the guidance of former president Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo helped North America’s cold games industry come roaring back to life with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. The company has since witnessed (and instigated) a lot of change in the industry, and it’s seen a lot of competitors come and go.

The industry never been as competitive as it is now, and it’s thanks to the advent of mobile phones and tablets. If you were to go back ten years in time and tell the world that a phone manufactured by Apple is the greatest threat to Nintendo’s prosperity, you probably wouldn’t find a single person who’d believe you. Potential competitors have long taken on Nintendo head-to-head by designing consoles and handheld gaming systems. Since the birth of the Game Boy in 1989, an endless parade of imitators has followed, including the Atari Lynx, Sega’s Game Gear, the Turbo Express, Tiger’s Game.com, Sony’s PSP, and many more.

None of the systems ever managed to touch Nintendo’s place at the top of the handheld market until the smartphone, particularly Apple’s iPhone, rose into popularity. Steve Jobs encroached on Nintendo’s speciality, and he’d done it through the iPhone’s secondary functions.

Now, Nintendo has to break a sweat to keep the Nintendo 3DS at the top of kids’ wish lists. This is not exactly a bad thing, since the threats of the iOS and Android market have already forced the game maker to innovate. Nevertheless, we’ve grown so accustomed to Nintendo being at the head of the food chain that many of us ask ourselves, “Why doesn’t Nintendo give up on the sinking handheld console market and publish its games on the iPhone? It’d make a ton of money!”

Short Term Prosperity Before a Slow Death

If Nintendo were to make a Pokemon or Super Mario game for the iPhone, that game would doubtlessly sell millions. It’d be a fantastic boost for the company in the short term, but in the long term, turning its properties loose on Apple’s iOS could mean the death of the company.

Nintendo doesn’t have to worry about its immediate future. It has plenty of money in the bank. More than ten billion USD as of 2012, in fact. Even though Nintendo’s Wii U (its Wii successor) hasn’t been burning up the sales charts, the company has a pretty big cushion of money to fall back on if things don’t improve for the system.

Thing is, the Wii U’s fortunes probably will improve for the same reason the Nintendo 3DS finally got around to selling over 33 million units since its shaky start: Must-have games began trickling in, and more than a few of them were from Nintendo itself. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Fire Emblem: Awakening, and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D are available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS, and people have bought the 3DS to play them. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is an especially noteworthy system-seller. It wouldn’t make sense to dilute any of these properties by peddling them on smartphones, tablets, or systems not designed and sold by Nintendo.

Sega: A Bad Mentor

Moreover, if Nintendo wasn’t free to design its games around its own hardware, its creative spark could potentially dim. Sega produced its best games for its Dreamcast system at the start of the new millennium (including critically-acclaimed titles like Shenmue, Space Channel 5, Seaman, and Jet Set Radio), but it stagnated when it left hardware development. The result was a chain of lackluster Sonic the Hedgehog games that permanently damaged the reputation of its once-celebrated mascot. Sonic is on the rebound and has starred in a few high-quality games since his initial fall, but the Sega that gave us cool new properties like Panzer Dragoon and Samba de Amigo has been reduced to a legacy that only lives on in the backgrounds of the multi-platform Sonic & Sega racing games.

It would be heartbreaking to see Nintendo forced to churn out truncated mobile versions of its best properties, no matter how good an idea it seems to be at first glance. A string of bad decisions and failed hardware platforms forced Sega out of the hardware game, however, and Nintendo is nowhere near that level of distress.

This is the perfect response from one friend to another.

I'm sure telling your friends you are gay can be a daunting thing at the best of times. that being said there must have been a huge relief to know that not only was your friend fine with it but that your friend was a legend in the process. Life is all about priorities, as the person who posted the following text conversation to Reddit knows only too well.
Whatever about your friend's latest sexual conquest, who's picking up the beer?

This packaging on Tesco's Buttermilk is making everyone very uncomfortable

Once you see it, it can't be unseen...

We imagine working on the creative side of things for a mega company like Tesco has its challenges as they've so many own-brand products that coming up with fresh designs and ideas must be tricky.
The general design for products seems to involve sweeping curves and contours so everything looks smooth and slick but the brand's latest package design for their Buttermilk looks a lot like something that rhymes with slick.
Whether it's an unfortunate cock-up, someone is taking the mickey or it's a ballsy move by the creative department, the buttermilk packaged for Irish branches seems to have the male reproductive organ on the carton. Look at it...

The person responsible needs some serious work on their spelling…

A flight from Los Angeles to London was grounded for 17 hours after WiFi hotspot with the name 'Al-Quida Free Terror Nettwork’ was seen onboard the plane...

American Airlines Flight 136 was originally grounded for three hours by customs and border officials in Los Angeles while the muppet owner of the hotspot was searched for. But the eejit was never found and it is thought that the person responsible changed the name of the hotspot fairly sharpish when they realised the trouble they’d caused.
Following the search, the crew of the plane refused to fly and the flight was delayed a further 17 hours thanks to the creator of the idiotic WiFi hotspot name.

Movember is fast approaching and the gang at Movember Ireland have kicked things off in spectacular fashion with the world's biggest Mo appearing on the Cliffs of Moher.

To celebrate the launch of the hairy month, Movember has created ‘The Cliffs of MO-her,’ officially the biggest Mo ever.  Live for just 60 minutes last night, enough time to capture its epicness, the giant Mo measured 200 metres high by 600 meters wide as it was projected on one of Ireland’s most iconic natural landmarks, the Cliffs Of Moher in Co. Clare.

Now in its seventh year, Irish Mo Bros can simply register at Movember.com, start the month clean shaven and have the 30 days of November to grow a man made moustache; all to raise awareness and funds for men’s health. The money raised in Ireland goes to the Irish Cancer Society and the Movember Foundation’s global research initiative, GAP.
They've also released a great video of a behind-the-scenes look at how they achieved the giant Mo projection on to the Cliffs of Moher and you can see it here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zX_J6CPg0M

Swansea v Leicester, 17:30
Although they sit eighth in the Barclays Premier League table Swansea are in something of a funk right not, having not won any of their last five matches. Garry Monk had a minor meltdown last time out, ostensibly at the diving of Victor Moses but in reality more because his side are playing well but losing, and if he sees them lose to Leicester today it might be the first Match of the Day interview to be bleeped in a long time.
Swansea welcome back midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, but Leon Britton, Jordi Amat, Dwight Tiendalli and Ashley Richards are out. Leicester have no new fitness concerns, with long-term absentee Matthew Upson the only senior player currently sidelined.

West Brom v Crystal Palace, 15:00
Neither of these sides have had the most impressive few matches of late, although both have wins over one of the ‘bigger’ sides in Spurs and Everton respectively and can draw on those for inspiration here today. One point separates the two sides in the table and the winner today could vault into the top half such is the level of competition in the middle third of the league, and Palace showed versus Chelsea that the Baggies will at least have to have big balls to win.
Ben Foster is likely to return to West Brom’s starting line-up but Jonas Olsson is out and Claudio Yacob remains in his native Argentina due to family illness. Neil Warnock will be forced into changes, with Damien Delaney suspended and James McArthur out while Scott Dann won’t be ready.

underland v Arsenal 15:00
How do you recover from losing a game 8-0? That is the question Gus Poyet has been asking himself and his aides all week as he seeks to bounce back from the Southampton match, and with match-day upon us we’ll finally see what his solution is. Arsenal are a tough opponent, but if Sunderland can win or even draw this game it’ll be a fillip for the club and the fans, and proof that Poyet has not yet lost the dressing room despite the team losing the plot on the pitch from time to time.
Anthony Reveillere, who joined Sunderland as a free agent on Thursday, could make his debut which is good news as Sebastian Coates, Billy Jones, Emanuele Giaccherini and Ricky Alvarez remain out through injury. Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is suspended and Theo Walcott is not expected to return to the squad until next weekend.

Southampton v Stoke, 15:00
Southampton have won five of their last six games and come into this match on the back of ruining Sunderland last weekend, so Stoke will feel like they’ve got a real task on their hands to get anything out of the match at all. Wins over QPR, Swansea and West Ham have all contributed to the great position Southampton are in, and if they’d managed to beat Spurs and Liverpool too they could easily be in the top two without anyone really batting an eyelid, given how they’ve played. Stoke have won one of their last six and need a win, but getting that today will be no easy task.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is likely to pick the same team that thrashed Sunderland, with James Ward-Prowse and striker Jay Rodriguez long-term absentees. Stoke defender Phil Bardsley faces a fitness test, but Glenn Whelan has not yet recovered from a fractured leg.

Liverpool v Hull, 15:00
Although they are fith in the Premier League table, things have been decidedly negative for Liverpool FC over the last week or so, and a lot of that has been their own doing. With former players publicly turning on the team in exchange for some Murdoch money (looking at you Carra) and the manager seemingly at war with himself and needing to pick a fight the team went into the Real Madrid match with low expectation and still managed to hurt morale, and there is a real risk Hull could take all three points against the struggling home team.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has to make do with Daniel Sturridge, Mamadou Sakho and Jon Flanagan for this game. Hull have been weakened by the absence of Michael Dawson and Nikica Jelavic, and Eldin Jakupovic is set to play in goal with the first two picks injured.

West Ham v Man City, 12:45
When Gary ‘bottle-brown’ Lineker sits down this evening with the order for Match of the Day in front of him there is a good case for saying this match should be first in line for the cutting analysis of Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage, given that it is second in the table visiting fourth. Even a home win wouldn’t put the Hammers above their guests in the table, but it would prove Sam Allardyce really does know what he’s doing after his side lost to thee of the bigger sides in United, Spurs and Southampton.
West Ham have midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and defender James Tomkins available again but the game comes a bit early for Andy Carroll. Frank Lampard misses out for City and Samir Nasri is also unavailable after a groin operation.

El Otro Lado
PANAMA
You have to head to pirate country to reach El Otro Lado—a 110-hectare hideaway on Panama’s Caribbean coast. Barely 90 minutes’ drive from Panama City, this is the place where British and Spanish pirates battled for bounty centuries ago. Today, though, travelers go for the treasure of solace.

Originally built as a private residence, El Otro Lado is a group of four villas shrouded in rain forest, reached only by boat from historic Portobelo town. Although each villa is individually designed, they all share a visual DNA—whitewashed interiors enlivened by contemporary furniture, stark black-and-white photography and Latin-Caribbean painting. Relax on a palm-fringed beach lying a short boat hop away or by the resort’s infinity-edge swimming pool. Then dine on ultra-fresh ceviches washed down with potent mojitos. Back in the pirate days, both Christopher Columbus and Sir Francis Drake fought for control of the Portobelo region. A few nights at El Otro Lado and it’s easy to understand why. 

Garden of Dreams
NEPAL
If you find yourself in the frenetic Themel tourist district of Kathmandu and overcome with a need for tranquility, leave the Nepalese capital’s snarling traffic and persistent hawkers behind you and make for this lush greensward across the street from the former Royal Palace. Designed in the 1920s as a private garden, its wide lawns, surrounded by bamboo, fountains and exotic trees, are the perfect place to revive after a grueling climbing (or shopping) adventure. Start on the breezy terrace of the Kaiser Café, eating your fill from the Mediterranean-influenced menu (think seafood cappuccino and chicken Florentine), then go for a postprandial stroll. Unlike most parks in Nepal and neighboring India, the garden is walled, keeping out stray dogs—and the city’s ubiquitous beggars. Walk its immaculately kept perimeter paths before finding a spot to lie on the grass and read a book, the sounds of the city drifting overhead. 

Glacier Highway
NEW ZEALAND
Even in a land that provided scenery for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, New Zealand’s South Island is a road-trip destination writ large. Among its most gobsmacking routes is the Glacier Highway—a.k.a. the Ice Run—which includes a ceaselessly twisting 400-km-long section that takes in the most accessible and lowest-lying glaciers on the planet. Starting at the historic gold-rush town of Hokitika on the west coast, the road travels south along a windswept shoreline before cutting inland through vast tracts of farmland tinted with lavender.

It is there that drivers encounter New Zealand’s colossal Southern Alps, their peaks dusted with snow. Turns of every gradient and camber pile onto one another as the road weaves into Westland National Park, home to more than 60 glaciers. It then meanders into Mount Aspiring National Park and crosses the Haast Pass before climaxing at the Neck—a land saddle dividing Lakes Hawea and Wanaka.

“There are not many roads where you can see beaches in the morning, rainforests at midday and glaciers in the afternoon,” says Mike Rose of Paradise Motorcycle Tours NZ. “It’s got to be the most epic road trip in the world.”

Reggie’s Jazz Bar
INDIA
Color-soaked Rajasthan isn’t short of singular pleasures, but even here Reggie’s jazz bar is in a league of its own. Located on the fringes of the Thar Desert, it is the lair of the exuberant Reggie Singh, a cousin to the Maharajah of Jodhpur and owner of the surrounding namesake, Reggie’s Camel Camp Osian.

The camels are frankly the warm-up act: after dinner, your affable, cigar-chomping host ushers guests into his cavernous den. The room is adorned with faded photos of royal relatives and plush armchairs. Eschew these for a stool at the bar while Reggie plies you with his home-doctored rum, and spins the tunes, choosing from a collection that runs the gamut from jazz and blues to rock and pop. He might start you off gently with, say, Johnny Lee Hooker, Etta James, Aretha and Buddy Guy and then ease you into the Stones, Journey or Van Morrison. Cheesy or not, you’ll soon be dancing with wild abandon on the heirloom rug, wondering if it’s all a mirage. Happily, it ain’t. 

Spa on the Rocks, Ayana Resort
INDONESIA
When it comes to sheer rugged romance, the pair of treatment villas that belong to the cliffside spa at Bali’s Ayana Resort have few equals. They are perched on jagged rocks bound by ferocious ocean tides. Having a pummeling (or a pampering) in body-beautiful Bali is a given. But a massage in a tranquil beachfront sala is one thing. It’s quite another to get to your appointment by navigating the zigzagging bridge that connects the Ayana Resort to these villas nestled at the foot of a 35-m rock face.

Ayana’s enterprising owner, Indonesian businessman Rudy Suliawan, was strolling along the resort’s 1.3 km coastline when he noticed a group of boulders and thought that his guests should like nothing more than a massage amid the waves that crash so thunderously upon this stretch of shore. This was no casual undertaking: construction of the bridge and two thatched-roof cottages took six months because work had to be scheduled around swell and tidal conditions. But it was worth it.

The trick is to start your 21⁄2-hour treatment at 4 p.m. so you’re ready to step into your postmassage bath at sunset. The tub—but of course—is filled with the petals of 500 roses. You can also request strawberries and champagne as extras, but then there is nothing so intoxicating as the deafening roar of the ocean at twilight. From $558 per person for twin use. 

Westfjords
ICELAND
Iceland’s austere essence can be found in the Westfjords, a claw-shaped peninsula facing Greenland. First visit the Vatnasafn/Library of Water, a striking Modernist building where artist Roni Horn has installed columns of melted ice from 24 Icelandic glaciers, each a different color based on its geological history. Then take the ferry across and stay at Hotel Latrabjarg, in Patreksfjordur, an appropriately homey ex-schoolhouse. At Breidavik, where the guesthouse is a notorious former boys’ home, we were told the saga of two farmhouses in nearby Sjounda: in 1802 an adulterous couple murdered their respective spouses, as recounted in Gunnar Gunnarsson’s novel The Black Cliffs. High up on the windy cliffs of Latrabjarg, the westernmost tip of Europe, we communed with black-and-white puffins in the midnight sun. Memory is long here, and the landscape has a palpable supernatural spirit. 

Tassia
KENYA
If you associate African safari holidays with being bussed around on bone-jarring game drives to look at identikit herds of antelope, then Tassia will restore your faith. Antonia Hall and Martin Wheeler, a young Kenyan duo, provide an all-natural wilderness experience within a 24,300-hectare playground for no more than 12 guests. Tassia perches on a bluff above the Laikipia plateau. Kenya, in its fabled vastness, stretches beneath. As the sun rises, you’ll find yourself tracking a leopard on foot with a Masai guide, or learning the medicinal value of plants. Clamber around caves and trace the ancient etchings of the Mokogodo tribe. Take up archery in the dry riverbed, swim by the waterfall during rains, or even game-drive—but on horseback, camel or oxcart. You will rarely get in a car. Sit, drink in hand, on the flat rocks as the sun sinks and the moon rises and watch Wheeler teach his injured birds of prey the art of hunting. Eat alone under the stars, or with your hosts around an old wooden table that is waxy and worn by candlelit dinners (there’s no electric light). Then sleep to the call of lions in an open room where one wall is nothing but the night sky. 

Mada’in Saleh
SAUDI ARABIA
Legend holds that the ancient city of Mada’in Saleh, deep in the Saudi Arabian desert, is a cursed place, punished by Allah for its inhabitants’ idolatry. Indeed, the wind-carved pillars of sandstone jutting out of the dunes are easily likened to writhing souls, tortured for eternity in eerie formations visible for miles.

Yet in its 1st century heyday, this vital city of the Nabataean kingdom was a key trading post for merchants plying spices, frankincense and myrrh from as far away as Yemen. The once nomadic Nabataeans lived in mud-brick dwellings long washed away, but they housed their dead in elaborate mausoleums carved from these sandstone monoliths. Some 111 exquisitely preserved tombs survive. In 2008, UNESCO named Mada’in Saleh a World Heritage site, Saudi Arabia’s first, but the stigma of God’s wrath remains. The Prophet Muhammad, wary of a relapse into idol worship, exhorted his followers never to sleep, eat or pray in the tombs’ shadows. The result is an archaeological wonderland utterly devoid of visitors—a curse that is also a blessing.

Siwa Oasis
EGYPT
A flyer from the tourist office reads: “Siwa, the world’s first and oldest tourist destination.” Hard to say if that’s true, but Alexander the Great, for one, was enticed to cross the desert to consult an oracle of Amun, who dwelled in this oasis. Populated mostly by Berbers hailing from Libya, Siwa is accessible only by a single asphalt road and has lost none of its isolated charm. Nowadays European jet-setters flock to the Adrère Amellal eco-lodge, a mud enclave without electricity set against the White Mountain. For more social types, the Albabenshal hotel is built into the old fort at the center of town. As light dims, gaze from its rooftop restaurant while calls to prayer and the cries of livestock bring the main square to life. Sunset is silent, however, at Cleopatra’s Bath—a thermal pool in the middle of the dunes, where countless stars carry you to heaven.

Foo Fighters or Kraut Fireballs

The term foo fighter was used by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II to describe various mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over both the European and Pacific Theater of Operations. The first sightings occurred in November 1944, when pilots flying over Germany reported seeing fast-moving round glowing objects following their aircraft. The objects were described as fiery and glowing red, white, or orange. Some pilots described them as resembling Christmas tree lights and fireballs, as big as 300 feet and as small as 1 foot. The foo fighters could not be outmaneuvered or shot down.

The military took the sightings seriously, suspecting that the mysterious sightings might be secret German weapons, but further investigation revealed that German and Japanese
pilots had reported similar sightings. During war time the term foo fighters became commonly used to mean any UFO sighting. Many people have speculated extraterrestrial involvement. During WWII, these experiences were taken very seriously. Accounts of these cases were presented to heavyweight scientists, such as David Griggs, Luis Alvarez and H.P. Robertson. The phenomenon was never explained. Most of the information about the issue has never been released by military intelligence.

 The Death of Subhas Chandra Bose

Subhas Chandra Bose was a leader in the Indian independence movement. Bose believed that tactics of non-violence would never be sufficient to secure India’s independence,
and advocated violent resistance. His stance did not change with the outbreak of World War II, which he saw as an opportunity to take advantage of British weakness. With
Japanese assistance he formed many military operations against the British in India. His actions during the war have been the cause of many arguments among historians and
politicians. Some feel he was a Nazi supporter and others claim he was an important and influential force in India’s move toward independence. Officially, Bose died in a
plane crash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo on August 18, 1945.

However, his body was never recovered and numerous theories have surfaced surrounding his survival or execution. One such claim is that Bose actually died in
Siberia, while in Soviet captivity. Other people believe that the Hindu sanyasi named Bhagwanji, who lived in Faizabad, near Ayodhya and died in 1985, was Subhas Chandra
Bose in exile. However, the mystery surrounding Bose’s death may be solved by 2020 when the British government will release classified documents.

5. Battle of Los Angeles

On February 24 and 25, 1942 unknown and unidentified flying object appeared in the skies over Los Angeles, California. It was less than three months after Pearl Harbor and

the U.S. entry into World War II. The United States military could not identify the enemy aircrafts, so they opened up with a massive anti-aircraft artillery barrage. Prior to
the event, a Japanese submarine I-17 surfaced and fired on an oil production facility near Santa Barbara. This created the repositioning of many military and naval troops on
the western coast of the U.S. When unidentified objects were reported in the skies above Los Angles a total blackout was ordered and air raid sirens were set off.

The 37th Coast Artillery Brigade began firing 12.8-pound anti-aircraft shells at the objects. Three civilians died from friendly fire and many buildings were damaged, a battle was fought in Los Angeles. Initially the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but it was later suggested to be imaginary and a case of war nerves, a lost weather balloon, a blimp, a Japanese fire balloon or a psychological warfare technique, staged for the benefit of coastal industrial sites, another common claim in an extraterrestrial craft. The incident remains a complete mystery.

Velzer Affair

Hannie Schaft

Earlier this year, the province of North Holland agreed to fund another investigation into the Velzer Affair, a murky World War II case involving the betrayal of communist resistance fighters and collaboration with the Nazi occupiers. Many questions are still swirling around this mysterious event when many communist resistance activists and advisors were handed over to the Germans and executed. The most well known individual case was that of Dutch communist resistance fighter Hannie Schaft, who was murdered three weeks before the Netherlands was liberated. Many feel that Velzen’s chief of police and several officers collaborated with the Nazis and some of them were members of the Dutch National Socialist Party (NSB), but nothing has ever been proven. People claim that high ranking officials rounded up several left-wing and Communist resistance fighters and handed them over to the Nazis, in order to ensure that the Dutch society would run the same as it had before the war. The Velzer Affair remains an influential and mysterious war time event.

 Rommel’s Treasure

Erwin Rommel was perhaps the most famous German Field Marshal of World War II. In 1944, Allied troops were closing in on Rommel’s Corps and he ordered four SS divers to bury a German treasure within six steel ammunition boxes. The treasure is said to consist of precious stones, gold and silver bullion. It is apparently located in an underwater cavern off the eastern coast of the Mediterranean island of Corsica. In 2007, historians and treasure hunters were focusing on a photo of a German soldier that contains a written code to the location of Rommel’s treasure. The investigators are confident that they are very close to discovering the precise location of the treasure. To date there are no records on the recovery of the Rommel treasure.

Adolf Hitler’s Art Collections

Many international museum displays claim to have Adolf Hitler’s original globe, including Deutsches Historisches Museum, Märkisches Museum, and the Berlin History Museum, but
German historians claim it is nowhere to be found. Hitler’s original globe was one of two special editions manufactured in Berlin during the 1930’s. It was the size of a Volkswagen,
and more expensive. It had a wood base that was designed to support it, but custom furniture stands were made for Hitler. Another mystery surrounding World War II is Hitler’s art collection.

Hitler intended on creating a National Socialist museum of art in the Austrian city of Linz, but towards the end of the war the Germans destroyed hundreds of sacred pieces of art. They also stashed works, and many of these paintings were sold on the black market. Art was auctioned off to wealthy buyers and many famous works are still missing to this day.

 Malbork Mass Graves

Malbork is a town in northern Poland. During World War II this area of the world was part of Germany West Prussia. In recent decades numerous mass graves have been unearthed in the
area. In January of 2009 a discovery of over 1800 bodies and human remains were discovered in Malbork. The first skeletons were found by construction workers. It was a mystery, but clear that the victims were subject to a massacre. They were buried with no clothes and many had gunshot wounds to the head. The bodies had been completed raided. The majority of the archeologists, scientists, and historians that have studied the site agree that the bodies are probably German citizens of the town of Malbork that were massacred during the Russian
advance in 1945. Many of these battles were violent, as the Russian’s murdered and raped any German citizen in their way.

Centaur CS IV Tanks Discovered

In 2008, the remains of two rusting tanks were discovered 8 miles off East Wittering, West Sussex. After initial photos were taken of the wreckage, World War II and artillery experts
identified the machines as Centaur CS IV tanks. Centaur CS IV tanks were premiere fighting machines that were armed with a 95mm howitzer (51 rounds of ammunition). The CS IV is the
only version of the Centaur known to have seen combat, in service with the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group. The vehicles were fitted with wading gear to get them ashore. They
had waterproofed engine inlets and their covers were fitted to the guns. In total there were 114 Centaur CS IV tanks produced. Historians believe the discovered tanks were part of an 80-strong contingent that was bound for France on D-Day, but the pair sank in mysterious circumstances. The discovery of the tanks has puzzled war investigators and increased the number of surviving Centaur CS IV tanks to four.

The Pollock Twins

In 1957, 11 year-old Joanna and 6 year-old Jacqueline Pollock were tragically killed in a car accident in Northumberland, England. They were sisters. A year later, their mother gave birth to twins Jennifer and Gillian. The younger twin, Jennifer, had birth marks on her body in exactly the same place as Jacqueline had them. The twins then started requesting toys belonging to the deceased girls which they had no prior knowledge of. The twins even asked to go to a park they have never been to before (but their deceased sisters have). A well-respected psychologist at the time, one Dr. Ian Stevenson, studied the case in-depth and concluded it was likely the twins were reincarnations of their departed sisters.

 The Dighton Rock

The Dighton Rock is a 40-ton boulder located on the shores of the Taunton River in Massachusetts and it is covered in puzzling petroglyphs. For nearly 300 years, people have speculated about its origin and meaning. Investigators have attempted to decode the odd glyphs since an English colonist first described the boulder in 1680, but they have had little success. In 1963, state officials removed the boulder and kept it for preservation. Most scholars think the stone carvings are of Native American origins. Some of the wilder theories have proposed that it was the work of the Portuguese, Chinese, or even the ancient Phoenicians.

Cicada3301

For the past three years, each January there is a bizarre, online puzzle game that is hosted by someone who calls themselves “3301.” Their symbol is a cicada. The complex puzzles draw on elements of cryptography, mathematics, literature, hidden messages, data security, and philosophy. Physical clues appear in places as diverse as Poland, Hawaii, Spain, Australia, and Korea. 3301 claims that its puzzles attempt to find “intelligent individuals.” They don’t say why. Many believe these nearly impossible puzzles are a recruitment vehicle for organizations like the CIA or MI6.

The Aluminum Wedge of Aiud

In 1974, this is a wedge-shaped object found 1.2 miles east of Aiud, Romania. It was discovered on the banks of the Mures River. It was reportedly unearthed 35 feet under sand and alongside two mastodon bones. It looks like the head of a hammer and is made of an alloy of aluminum encased in a thin layer of oxide. It’s strange because aluminum was not discovered until 1808 and not produced in quantity until 1885. Since it was found in the same layer as mastodon bones, it would indicate that this wedge was at least 11,000 years old. Many people believe that this wedge is evidence that aliens visited earth, since there is no way that humans created such an alloy so many thousands of years ago.

Liverpool v Real Madrid, 19:45
Before the season started there was a lot of talk about Liverpool being ‘back where they belonged’ and playing at the top of the European game again, but tonight may well be a lesson in being careful what you wish for. The knife in the back is probably a bit too fresh for Luis Suarez and Barcelona to come to Anfield and not cause a ruckus, but without that venom there is every chance this game could be more of a spirit-breaker for the home team if they can’t produce their best stuff, although Real are missing a couple of good attackers. To be honest though, with the way Liverpool have been playing in mind that won’t make too much difference, as Ronaldo has more goals than the entire LFC squad to this point in the season
The defensive woes for Brendan Rodgers won’t be helped by the injuries to Mama Sakho and Jon Flanagan, who join Daniel Sturridge on the treatment table. Real face the prospect of missing both Gareth Bale and Raphael Varane while Fabio Coentrao, Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Jese Rodriguez are definitely out.

Anderlecht v Arsenal, 19:45
Anderlecht are a team with a grand history and tradition at this level, but recent years have turned the Belgian league into a finishing school for the stars of the top European leagues and Arsenal arrive today with the expectation of winning this game and advancing a touch closer to qualification for the knockout stages. After getting turned over by Borussia Dortmund there is some pressure on the Gunners to perform here though, and if Anderlecht play their best and keep up the tempo there is a chance we could see a shock, and a win for the home team that few expect.
Arsenal have an extensive injury list as usual, with big names like Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny joining the likes of Theo Walcott, Mathieu Debuchy, Yaya Sanogo and Nacho Monreal, but it seems as though Mikel Arteta might make the squad at least.

Volume

Indie darling Mike Bithell's latest offering has been kept under wraps thus far. Players take on the role of a kid named Robe who has to navigate different colourful rooms while avoiding detection from guards. It looks for all the world like a mish-mash of Metal Gear Solid's stealth game shot through with Bithell's sense of good humour and fun.

The Last Of Us: Remastered

Naughty Dog's superb survival horror gets the next gen treatment. Set in a post apocalyptic world where a plague put paid to social order, The Last Of Us follows odd couple Joel and Ellie as they try to make their way across the US in search of a cure. Easily one of the best games of the last generation, The Last Of Us is storytelling in the gaming medium at its best. If you've never played this on a PS3, trust us when we tell you, it's essential to your PS4 library.

Alien: Isolation

Perhaps the first Alien title in a while to make proper use of HR Giger's nightmarish creation, Alien: Isolation has its feet planted firmly in survival horror territory. Players control Ellen Ripley's daughter as she investigates a massive space station in search of clues to what could have happened to her mother. An abosultely terrifying experience, made all the more tense since the titular creature can't be killed and the player's only recourse when spotted is to run and hide... and quite possibly pray.

Assassin's Creed: Unity

Ubisoft's open world historical adventure series has picked pre-Revoultion Paris as its new stamping ground. Players are let loose in the French capital in the late 1700s in a map that, at a scale of 1:1 with the real thing, is the biggest environment yet created in this series. Stealth plays a factor too as players stalk the dimly lit cobbles in search of prey. Packed to the rafters with missions, side-quests, collectibles and trinkets, Assassin's Creed: Unity might be worth booking off a work from week to play when it comes out.

Assassin's Creed: Unity

Ubisoft's open world historical adventure series has picked pre-Revoultion Paris as its new stamping ground. Players are let loose in the French capital in the late 1700s in a map that, at a scale of 1:1 with the real thing, is the biggest environment yet created in this series. Stealth plays a factor too as players stalk the dimly lit cobbles in search of prey. Packed to the rafters with missions, side-quests, collectibles and trinkets, Assassin's Creed: Unity might be worth booking off a work from week to play when it comes out.