Latest news with #Polar
Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
The eerie ghost town on world's largest island, abandoned for 20 years & visitors have to arrive by dog sled or boat
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) ON the edge of the Earth lies a village frozen in time – quite literally. Itterajivit, is the hauntingly deserted Arctic outpost that's been abandoned for nearly 20 years. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 The village, also known as Kap Hope, was first inhabited in 1925 Credit: Tripadvisor Once a bustling community in eastern Greenland's Scoresby Sound, Itterajivit is now a ghost town, crumbling quietly in one of the most remote spots on the planet. The village, also known by its Danish name - Kap Hope - was first inhabited in 1925 as part of a trio of small communities surrounding Ittoqqortoormiit. By the 1960s, its population had peaked at around 112 people, complete with a school‑chapel, workshop, youth club, and recreational spaces. But life on the edge proved tough. Isolation, limited job prospects, and government policies favouring larger hubs meant families gradually drifted away. By 2005, just nine residents remained – and then, none. A scattering of wooden houses still stands – some sagging, snow-filled, and forgotten. Others are clung to by local Inuit hunters, used as seasonal shelters when braving the region's punishing conditions. According to one traveller on BirdForum: 'Of the two dozen houses, only a couple are maintained. The rest are in decay, a broken window soon means a house full of snow.' Most visitors arrive the hard way – either by dog sled or boat – depending on the whims of Greenland's brutal weather. In winter, sea ice cuts off access altogether. And getting to nearby Ittoqqortoormiit requires flying to Reykjavik, chartering a plane to Constable Point, then boarding a helicopter or boat. So why go? Because what remains of Itterajivit is nothing short of breathtaking. Backed by jagged black hills and overlooking frozen shorelines, the village's stark beauty is pure Arctic drama. Polar bears, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, and seals roam the surrounding wilderness – a wildlife haven untouched by time. The village featured in Canadian travel series Departures, and in Expedition with Steve Backshall on the BBC, where the adventurer and his team kayaked through the world's largest fjord, passing Itterajivit's haunting ruins. Greenland, officially the world's largest island that isn't a continent, is home to just 56,000 people – and this spot is one of its loneliest. Governed by its own local parliament but still part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland sits so far north it experiences both Polar Night and Midnight Sun – meaning endless darkness in winter, and 24-hour daylight come summer. For those craving extreme isolation, ghost-town intrigue, and jaw-dropping scenery, Itterajivit delivers. 7 It is only accessible by dog sled or boat Credit: Tripadvisor 7 The village once had just over 100 inhabitants in the 1960s Credit: Alamy 7 The village is in one of the most remote places on earth Credit: Tripadvisor 7 The view from Itterajivit in February Credit: Alamy 7 Hunters still roam the land Credit: Alamy
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Coolest watches we spotted at Wimbledon 2025
Image via Instagram/ mansworldindia Forget the baseline battles—Wimbledon 2025 served up some serious style statements far beyond Centre Court. Between the perfectly manicured lawns and the VIP seating at the Royal Box, it wasn't just the aces and volleys grabbing attention—celebs turned up in luxury fashion, with jaw-dropping timepieces stealing the spotlight. From legendary sports icons to Hollywood A-listers, wrists were glinting with the finest watches money can buy. Whether it was Beckham's custom Tudor or Roger Federer 's classic Rolex flex, the championships doubled as a masterclass in horological elegance. With cameras flashing, style critics buzzing, and fans swooning, here's a courtside breakdown of who flaunted what and just how extravagant these watches truly are. 10 Celebrities and their statement watches at Wimbledon 2025 1. David Beckham – Custom Tudor Black Bay Chrono with diamonds David Beckham elevated the courtside scene with an extraordinary one-of-a-kind Tudor Black Bay Chrono, specially crafted to celebrate his 50th birthday. This bespoke timepiece features a 41 mm stainless-steel case, black lacquer dial with reverse panda subdials, and snowflake hands, but its true allure lies in the lavish dual rows of channel-set round diamonds adorning the bezel, lugs, and even the central bracelet links . Subtle touches, like minimalist branding and a fanciful tribute replacing '2' on the date disc with twin birthday candles, highlight its uniqueness . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Most Successful Way of Intraday Trading is "Market Profile" TradeWise Learn More Undo Powered by Tudor's top-grade MT5813 automatic chronograph movement, its value far exceeds the base retail of £5,020, cementing it as a rare collector's masterpiece. 2. John Cena – Rolex Explorer II 'Polar' 42 mm Oyster-steel At Wimbledon 2025, John Cena arrived courtside with a rugged yet refined Rolex Explorer II 'Polar', featuring a crisp white dial, bold black hour markers, and a distinctive orange 24‑hour hand on the fixed bezel. Powered by Rolex's GMT-capable Calibre 3285, this 42 mm steel tool watch is built for adventurers needing dual-time functionality. Paired with an Oyster bracelet, its understated toughness suits Cena's jet‑setting lifestyle. Retailing at approximately $10,050, it's a quiet icon of both performance and prestige. 3. Molly-Mae Hague – Patek Philippe Nautilus in rose gold with diamond bezel Molly‑Mae Hague stunned at Wimbledon 2025 wearing the exquisite Patek Philippe Nautilus, crafted in luxurious rose gold and elegantly framed by a bezel set with 56 round brilliant diamonds. The watch's iconic porthole-inspired design and integrated bracelet evoke timeless elegance, while the shimmer of the gemstones adds runway-level glamour. As a model and influencer, Molly‑Mae chose a timepiece that balances sporty sophistication and high jewelry—valued at approximately $72,800, this Nautilus exemplifies understated yet unmistakable luxury. 4. Nick Jonas – Vintage Rolex Day‑Date 'President' in 18k Yellow Gold Nick Jonas elevated his courtside ensemble at Wimbledon 2025 with a vintage Rolex Day‑Date 'President' crafted in 18k yellow gold, featuring a dramatic black dial adorned with diamond hour markers. This iconic timepiece—often dubbed the 'President's Watch'—blends timeless elegance with subtle glamour. A modern Day‑Date 40 retails for approximately $102,750, though vintage, diamond-accented editions like Jonas's may command even higher values, making it a true luxury statement on the wrist. 5. Russell Crowe – Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 'Tiffany' edition with turquoise dial Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe made a bold courtside statement at Wimbledon 2025 with Rolex's coveted 'Tiffany' Daytona, featuring a 40 mm 18 k yellow-gold case, turquoise lacquer dial, and black subdials, paired with a sporty Oysterflex strap. This rare piece, powered by the advanced calibre 4131 movement visible through a sapphire caseback, blends precision engineering with vibrant aesthetics. With intricate Paraflex shock absorption and a robust Chronergy escapement, it's more than eye-catching—it's built for performance. Although retail price is around £32,000, grey-market demand has pushed valuations over £65,000 (~USD 80,000), making Crowe's Daytona one of the most talked-about wristwear at the tournament. 6. Andrew Garfield – Omega De Ville Trésor in stainless steel with black leather strap The British actor looked classically dapper with his understated $7,400 Omega De Ville Trésor in steel. 7. Tom Holland – Platinum Rolex Cosmograph Daytona with ice-blue dial Tom Holland impressed with the $85,000 Rolex Platinum Daytona, recognized for its exclusivity and cool-toned dial. 8. Roger Federer – Rolex Oyster Land-Dweller At Wimbledon 2025, tennis legend Roger Federer wore Rolex's brand‑new Land‑Dweller 40, featuring a sleek 40 mm Oystersteel case, contrasting white gold bezel, and a crisp white dial—an homage to retro‑futuristic 1970s design. This striking yet understated model is priced around $25,900. As Rolex's first new sports line in over a decade, the Land-Dweller represents modern innovation with timeless elegance—perfectly suited for the GOAT's first public appearance since retirement. 9. Mirka Federer – Rolex Day-Date 36 in yellow gold with diamond bezel and markers Mirka brought timeless elegance with her yellow gold Day-Date 36, featuring diamond bezel and markers, valued at approximately $53,000. 10. Eddie Redmayne – Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Shades At Wimbledon 2025, Eddie Redmayne complemented his cream suit with the 38 mm Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Shades, featuring a terracotta-colored, sun-brushed lacquer dial and stainless-steel case with matching bracelet . As an Omega ambassador, the Oscar-winning actor chose this model not only for its understated elegance but also its precision. Retailing for approximately $7,000, this Seamaster strikes a perfect balance of warmth, sophistication, and athletic poise on courtside. When it comes to celebrity watches, these are not your average timepieces—they're status symbols crafted by the most prestigious Swiss watchmakers, each carrying a price tag that could rival a luxury car. Wimbledon isn't just a tennis tournament—it's a high-society catwalk, and this year, the wrist game was off the charts. From Beckham's sporty diamonds to Federer's polished Rolex duo with Mirka, these watches weren't mere accessories—they were power statements. Every glint of gold and flash of platinum told a story of timeless craftsmanship, personal style, and elite status. Whether pairing tennis whites with sporty chronographs or flaunting haute couture with jewel-encrusted timepieces, these celebs ensured Wimbledon's legacy as a fashion and luxury showcase remains untouched. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Tom's Guide
10-07-2025
- Health
- Tom's Guide
I wear a chest strap heart rate monitor for every run and these are the 4 I'd shop now in the Prime Day sales from $35
Chest strap heart rate monitors are, in my opinion, the best accessory you can get for your fitness, and you can pair them with most smartwatches and phones easily via Bluetooth. Smartwatches have optical sensors, but in my experience as a marathon runner and watch tester, they're never quite as accurate or reliable as a chest strap heart rate monitor. That's why I've searched through all the Amazon Prime Day deals to find you the best chest strap monitors I've tested that are discounted right now, so you can track and boost your fitness without breaking the bank. This is a budget-friendly chest strap that I found as reliably accurate as monitors that cost twice as much when I tested it out. It's a rechargeable strap too, which is convenient, and it can connect to watches and phones via both Bluetooth and ANT+. It's not as comfortable as pricier straps and Coospo's own app is confusing, and you can't wear it for swimming or store workouts on the H9Z, but for the price it's great for running and gym workouts. Polar straps have long been the gold standard for accuracy, and the H10 is its flagship heart rate monitor. It has internal storage and is fully waterproof so you can use it for swimming and download the heart rate data later, and it offers 400 hours of tracking via a coin battery that's easy enough to replace when it runs out. This is the strap I've used most over the past 10 years of running, and it's never let me down. I was impressed by the Wahoo TRACKR when I tested it last year, and it's your best option discounted right now if you want a rechargeable chest strap. It doesn't have internal storage like the Polar H10, but is comfortable for long runs and other workouts and it offers 100 hours of tracking on a charge. As much as I like chest straps, they don't work for everyone, and women in particular can sometimes find them uncomfortable, which is where the clip-on Garmin HRM-Fit monitor comes in. It clips onto a sports bra to make it easier and more comfortable to wear during workouts than standard strap, as our fitness editor Jane McGuire attests to in her Garmin HRM-Fit review. Chest straps measure the electrical activity of your heart when it beats, which is similar to the way electrocardiogram measurements are taken in a hospital. It's a more direct and reliable way of measuring your heart rate than the way optical sensors in watches measure heart rate by looking at the way your pulse affects light from the LEDs on the sensor. This optical heart rate monitoring uses your blood, rather than your heart directly, and is also affected by the fact your wrist is often moving during workouts, which negatively impacts the accuracy of the measurement. As a runner I often notice that the sensors on watches will lock onto my running cadence or footstrike rather than my heart rate, for example. Chest straps aren't for everyone — they're less convenient and comfortable than just using your watch measurements, and watches are getting better at measuring heart rate all the time. However, if you want the most accurate heart rate information possible, then a chest strap is the way to go.
Otago Daily Times
20-06-2025
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Amundsen and crew return
We are slowly getting to know the full facts of the returned airmen's three weeks of adventure. When the whole expedition once again met last night, they declared that the most thrilling moment was when the start was made on the homeward flight. It was a very anxious time, as if the machine were damaged in starting they would find themselves in a most critical situation. With minimum equipment it would have been practically hopeless to reach land across the ice. The airmen refuse to admit that they are disappointed at not reaching the Pole. "Although we all hoped to reach the Pole," they say, "as a crown to our efforts, still we are satisfied with the scientific result. We have observed 160,000 square kilometres, a hitherto unexplored section of the Norwegian part of the Arctic. We took complete observations at the landing place." Amundsen states that he fully concurs with this view. Of the six men who participated in the Polar flight Amundsen shows the most traces of the hardships that the party underwent, but the others say that this is because Amundsen worked the hardest of all. Amundsen says that on the expedition to the South Pole he met nothing which could be compared with that which he had just undergone. He would not have believed that such experiences as he had gone through in the last three weeks could ever have befallen him, and he hopes that nobody else will ever have them, adding: "We were literally caught like rats in a trap. Many times the situation was so ugly that we were tempted to throw up the sponge. When finally we started for home everyone realised that it was a case of life and death." Moray Pl collision A collision between an Overland car driven by Mr Geo. Leslie, of York Place, and a Ford car, driven by Mr Thos. Cubitt, of Whare Flat, occurred at the corner of Burlington Street and Moray Place at 11.45 on Saturday morning. The Ford car was coming up Burlington Street into Moray Place, and the Overland was making for Burlington Street. The taxi stand in Moray Place is extending so far down the street that neither motorist saw the other until it was too late to avoid a collision. Mr Cubitt's Ford car came off badly, having one wheel buckled, a tyre torn off, and the chassis thrown out of alignment. The Overland received a good shaking, and was dented in places, while one tyre was flat. Neither of the drivers was injured in any way. Fading star Nova Pictoris, the new star which appeared in the southern heavens three weeks ago and which the week before last attained a maximum brilliancy exceeding that of the lesser of the two principal stars of the Southern Cross, is now diminishing in brightness, although it is still clear to the naked eye. These "novae" are not to be confused with meteors, or even with comets, which belong to our solar system. They are far in the depths of space and are believed, by some, to herald the birth of new world systems. Rugby player overcomes paralysis Seven weeks ago, a young man, 19 years of age, was admitted to the Invercargill Hospital with a broken neck. He was partly paralysed, but life was not extinct. The doctors spared no effort in saving a life that hung by so feeble a thread. His neck was placed in a specially-prepared splint, and today he is on the road to complete recovery. The almost fatal accident occurred during a football match at Wyndham. — ODT , 22.6.1925 ( Compiled by Peter Dowden )
Finextra
19-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Payment infrastructure startup Polar raises $10 million
Polar, a fintech startup building payment infrastructure for AI-native SaaS companies, has raised a $10 million Seed round. 0 The funding round was led by Accel with support from a host of prominent angel investors. Launched in September 2024, Polar offers a Merchant of Record (MoR) billing engine designed for the next generation of developers. Polar integrates with just six lines of code, enabling AI-native businesses to onboard and start accepting payments globally in minutes, with Polar taking care of global sales taxes and connections to popular products from OpenAI or Anthropic. Founded by Birk Jernström - former director of product at Shopify and ex-founder at Tictail (acquired by Shopify in 2018) - Polar currently counts 16,000 developers as customers. Average online sales have grown more than 120% month-on-month for the past six months, with customers including Bolt AI, Midday, OpenPanel and Repo Prompt. Says Jernström: 'Our mission at Polar is to empower developers to ship faster and build businesses around their software - leaving billing and international sales tax headaches to us. Our focus over the past years has been entirely on building high-quality and innovative APIs, SDKs and products that help passionate coders monetize their software. This funding will help us to scale Polar up while maintaining this dedication to developers and their businesses.'
