Erling Haaland, Norway’s large, maniacal striker, has several exceedingly Norwegian traits. He sometimes exercises by chopping wood in the forest. He consumes 6,000 calories a day. After training sessions, he drinks raw milk. He owns a tax-sheltered investment company in Luxembourg named Pillage. He bought an edition of the “Heimskringla,” a 13th-century Old Norse saga, for $130,000—then donated it to his local library because, he explained, “I’ve never been much of a reader.” He has flowing blond hair, often compared to a Viking’s. He brings the intensity of a raiding party to the sport. Haaland scores goals at a higher rate than almost any soccer player ever. He has said, “I think of football all the time.” His wake-up alarm plays the theme song for the Champions League. He once posted a photo of himself on a plane, staring ahead intensely, with the caption “Just raw dogged a 7 hour flight no phone no sleep no water no food only map.” The Guardian once called him a “ravenous Nordic goal-yeti.”
Haaland’s style of play elicits not wonder but terror. He is enormous: six feet five, 200 pounds, about the size and speed of the N.F.L. wide receiver Randy Moss. “Watching him, I sometimes find myself giggling as I might over a big, obscene crash at a demolition derby,” Zach Helfand writes. Read more: https://t.co/iAtLMOvrv0
Sagrada Familia main tower complete
Barcelona's Sagrada Familia is an architectural masterpiece that's been under construction for more than 140 years. And the main tower is now complete.
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Moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to reduced #dementia risk and modest improvements in #cognitive outcomes; no benefit was seen for decaffeinated coffee in an observational study of US adults.
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AI robot monk offers spiritual advice in Japan.
Japanese researchers have unveiled a robot monk powered by AI that they say can dispense spiritual advice and maybe one day ease shortages of its human counterparts
Blackened skies unleashed torrential rains on Hong Kong, shutting hospitals, schools and law courts, and turning the Asian financial center's many staircases into waterfalls https://t.co/ZuKfG6aMWZ