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Well, per my understanding, not sure if courier company or custom allow shipment of CC from US to foreign? (I mean, restricted to ship into US, how about shipping out? Any had experience of being confiscated by US custom of shipping out CC?

I would second / third on the QDO54. I just smoked a stick from a 2021 box and it was arguably the harshest stick I’ve smoked in the last 12 months.

That’s the thing though - their core business is struggling. I’m not sold on the value or durability of generative AI for everyday personal use outside maybe improved voice recognition. Right now AI is often associated with LLMs, which are far too large to run on mobile hardware. More realistic application are functions that mobile devices have had for a while - picture correction, voice recognition, personalized content, etc. In that respect, the primary value add of onboard AI is with privacy, but where that’s even relevant it is often already covered by how data is used in the cloud. My point isn’t that onboard doesn’t have any advantages - it does - but they are unlikely to overcome the hurdles in Apple’s iPhone business. Apple has generated a ton of profit using the same anticompetitive business practices that are coming under scrutiny now. Meanwhile they’re blowing huge amounts of money on projects that are being cancelled (like their car) or landing with a thud (like the Vision Pro). So I’m an Apple skeptic for the time being.

Holy thread revival Batman! Where you all at with price increases these days? I thought I would be smoking less but it's the opposite. I'm up to 20 to 25 a week,yikes! I do smoke a fair amount of cheapies ie JLP and the like,the occasional toscano. Nudies and mofoh. I also am smoking more double coronas lately as I have a bunch. I'm on a Don Alejandro right now. I figure what the heck anymore,it helps me relax. I love it!

I’m firmly in the Amante VI camp (though have only ever tried the Churchill and spada gorda), but the VI is truly an awesome smoke. I’ve got a couple more from the original release batch and the honey sweetness is just phenomenal. Need a restock here asap

They are fantastic! To me, they aren't as bold as the other vitolas. It's an elegant Bolivar but still Bolivar.

Monte 2. Wrapper split around a half an inch. Burn, almost crazier than I am. Flavor, best #2 I've ever had and I have no clue where this came from. Edit: I give up. I fought it half way through and I pitched it. Monte 2: 0 for 3. I burnt a half a tank of lighter fluid trying to get this thing straightened out.

2016 Especiales on this fine Sunday morning

Casdagli Jure. This one started off with perfume/floral/musk notes that I am digging. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A good reason for the buyer to supply the shipping label. Once it's scanned, no longer your problem.

Greater Antilles Economic Revitalization Cooperative

I absolutely love the UAO (5 count boxes) of the E2s. I am glad I bought a bunch of E2 2018 UAO (5 count boxes) of them. 😊

Short answer is yes, the wheels have come off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bought some more stock a few weeks ago on the dip and it’s up 7% in the last month. When they start incorporating AI more into devices likely this fall I expect it to be good for the stock. They have the ability to continue to return large sums to share holders without really affecting their cash on hand. Pretty good for a struggling company. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A good day. Spent time with my grandson, came home fed the fish and the had a great dinner. Finished up with a RAE JUL 15 RA 897 Alemania.

I’ve done this at almost every hotel I’ve stayed in without incident. You just don’t want smoke getting into the room or ash in the trash. If other guests are visible on nearby balconies, I ask if they are ok with me having a cigar and they have always said they don’t mind. I guess I’ve been fortunate.

'16 Hoyo DC and some '18 Bollinger Rose NV that's pretty decent with a few years on it.

“Political actors are more emboldened to denigrate the media, to vilify the press, to attack individual members of the press and journalists, to seek to weaponize the government apparatus against individual media outlets that are critical of them,” So political actors threaten the free press but they want it fixed by other political actors?

Proclaimed in 1993, the day was created by the UN to celebrate the importance of journalism as the key for humans to enjoy the rest of their rights. © DENIS BALIBOUSE (Reuters) In 1993, the United Nations came together to announce a special day of the year to emphasize the importance of journalism and its essential role in free societies. Thus, World Press Freedom Day was born and is celebrated annually on May 3rd. How far have we come in 30 years? Watchdog: Governments aren't doing enough to protect press freedom May 03, 2024 By Liam Scott Threats posed by governments and lawmakers are among the most concerning challenges for journalists around the world, Reporters Without Borders said in a report on Friday. More governments and political authorities are failing to support and respect press freedom, the media watchdog, known as RSF, said as it released its annual World Press Freedom Index. The rankings look at the political, legal, and economic factors affecting media, as well as the security situation for journalists in 180 countries and territories. Each is then assigned a score, where 1 shows the best environment. The political sector saw the greatest deterioration of press freedom across all regions, RSF said. “Political actors are more emboldened to denigrate the media, to vilify the press, to attack individual members of the press and journalists, to seek to weaponize the government apparatus against individual media outlets that are critical of them,” Clayton Weimers, the head of RSF’s U.S. office, told VOA. That trend is all the more worrisome in a year where dozens of countries are set to hold national elections in 2024. Elections often feature violence against journalists and other curbs on press freedom, according to RSF. Argentina experienced one of the biggest declines in media freedom compared to last year, Weimers said. It dropped from 40th place to 66th in the index. The fall is due in large part to the election of President Javier Milei, “who has been openly hostile towards the media, has de-funded public media in Argentina and is leading the charge to vilify the press,” Weimers said. Milei’s actions against the media underscores a broader phenomenon in which states and other political forces are playing a decreasing role in protecting press freedom, according to RSF. Argentina’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. Norway maintained its status as the top country in the world for press freedom. Other countries in the top five include Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland. At the bottom of the list are Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Syria and Eritrea. The United States dropped 10 spots to 55th as a result of journalist arrests and last year’s police raid on a newspaper in Kansas. Emily Wilkins, the president of the National Press Club in Washington, said it’s concerning to see press freedom under threat in the U.S. She pointed to harmful rhetoric from politicians as one specific worry. “Politicians position themselves as being anti the press, calling the press enemies of the people,” Wilkins told VOA. “Every time that they villainize reporters and the media as a whole, that is a knock against democracy, and that is something that is making our entire country weaker.” Russia’s two-point rise to a rank of 162nd is misleading. RSF says its global press freedom score actually got worse — but other countries fell even more. “To be honest, 2023 didn’t see a lot of changes because the situation got so bad in 2022 that it can't get much worse,” Weimers said about Russia. Factors contributing to that decline are Russia’s jailing of journalists, including two Americans. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich has been jailed since March 2023 on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. The State Department has also declared the 32-year-old wrongfully detained. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been jailed since October 2023 on charges of failing to self-register as a so-called “foreign agent” and spreading what Moscow views as false information about the Russian military. She and her employer reject the charges. Press freedom groups have criticized the State Department for not declaring Kurmasheva wrongfully detained. The designation would open up additional resources to help secure her release. “It’s very critical that the State Department go forward and declare her wrongfully detained. I think a lot of us in the journalism community are very concerned that that hasn’t already happened,” Wilkins said. State Department officials are still deciding whether to declare Kurmasheva wrongfully detained, Roger Carstens, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, told reporters in April. “The Department of State continuously reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of U.S. nationals overseas, including those in Russia, for indicators that they are wrongful,” a State Department spokesperson previously told VOA. China, which is the worst jailer of journalists in the world, remained at the bottom of the index at 172nd. “We’re very concerned that China is setting itself up as an export model for anti-democratic values that clamp down on press freedom and freedom of speech,” Weimers said. But it’s not all bad news. Improvements in Ukraine, for instance, mean the country rose 18 places to 61st, and in South America, Chile rose 31 places to 52nd. Michael Lipin and Cristina Caicedo-Smit contributed to this report. Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/watchdog-governments-aren-t-doing-enough-to-protect-press-freedom/7596418.html

Apple shows its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since pandemic's outset May 3, 20245:22 AM ET By The Associated Press In this June 16, 2020 file photo, the sun is reflected on Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York. Mark Lennihan/AP Apple on Thursday disclosed its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the pandemic's outset, deepening a slump that's increasing the pressure on the trendsetting company to spruce up its products with more artificial intelligence. The 10% drop in year-over-year iPhone sales for the January-March period is latest sign of weakness in a product that generates most of Apple's revenue. It marked the biggest drop in iPhone sales since July-September period in 2020, when production bottlenecks caused by factory closures during the pandemic resulted in a delayed release of that year's model. The current iPhone downturn was the main reason Apple's revenue for the latest quarter decreased 4% from last year to $90.8 billion. It marked the fifth consecutive quarter that Apple's revenue dipped from the previous year. Apple's profit in the past quarter totaled $23.64 billion, or $1.53 per share, a 2% dip from last year. But both Apple's revenue and earnings per share came in slightly above analysts projections, according to FactSet Research. Apple also predicted its revenue for the April-June quarter will rise modestly from a year ago, which would end the recent streak of erosion. Part of the iPhone deterioration during the first three months of the year stemmed from a big boost in sales during the same period last year when Apple said it was filling pent-up demand caused by pandemic-driven shipment delays. Even as it stumbles slightly, Apple remains one of the world's most prosperous companies. The Cupertino, California, company hammered home that point by announcing a 4% increase in its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share. The company also committed to spending $110 billion buying back its own stock, a move that investors cheered but may fuel criticism that Apple is spending more money catering to Wall Street than creating more innovative products. Bolstered by the increased dividend and stock repurchase commitment, Apple's shares rose nearly 7% in extended trading after the news came out. The stock price has fallen 10% so far this year, erasing about $300 billion in stockholder wealth. Although investors have been dismayed by the weakening iPhone sales, they are also concerned Apple may be losing its edge as other tech giants such as Microsoft and Google sprint out to the early lead in artificial intelligence technology that is expected to reshape the industry and technology. The latest quarterly report "leaves no margin for doubt about Apple's current state of affairs," said Investing.com analyst Thomas Monteiro. "More than ever in the past decade, the company needs new products and solutions." Apple is widely expected to unveil more AI services in June during an annual conference showcasing the next version of its software for the iPhone and Mac computers. "We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era," Apple CEO Tim Cook assured analysts during a Thursday conference while promising more details will be announced soon. Weak sales in China were again a factor in the latest quarter, with revenue in that region falling 8% from last year to $16.37 billion as rival smartphone makers gained ground in one of the company's largest markets. Even so, analysts had been anticipating an even bigger sales decline in the results, providing investors with a measure of relief. Apple had a few bright spots in the past quarter too, most notably in its service division, which saw its revenue rise 14% from the year before to $23.87 billion. The division reaps a significant portion of its revenue from a lucrative deal that locks in Google as the search engine that automatically answers queries on the iPhone — an arrangement that is a focal point of an antitrust trial currently wrapping up with closing arguments in Washington this week. Commissions collected on digital transactions within iPhone apps are also a major revenue source within Apple's services division, an area being targeted in a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit alleging the company is running an illegal monopoly that locks out competition to the detriment of consumers. That case is expected to take several years to resolve, but European regulators already are forcing Apple to allow more alternatives to its proprietary iPhone app store as part of the Digital Markets Act. Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/05/03/1248865513/apple-quarterly-decline-iphone-sales

Have the wheels come off for Tesla? 1 day ago - By Theo Leggett,Business correspondent, BBC News Last month Tesla had to recall thousands of its Cybertrucks over safety concerns around their accelerator pedals There was a time when it seemed Tesla could do no wrong. In little more than a decade, it went from technology upstart to mass-market carmaker, invested billions in its clean energy business, and saw its value rocket. But now the company is struggling with falling car sales and intense competition from Chinese brands, as well as problems with its much-hyped Cybertruck. Lower sales have hit its revenues, and hurt its profits. Its share price has fallen by more than a quarter since the start of the year. It has cut prices in major markets, and is in the process of laying off some 14,000 employees - 10% of its global workforce. Those affected include senior executives and the entire team responsible for its much-admired supercharger network. So is all of this just a bump in the road, or are the wheels coming off the Tesla bandwagon? "It's about breaking a spell," explained Elon Musk to a specially invited audience at Tesla's California factory back in June 2012. "The world has been under the illusion that electric cars can't be as good as gasoline cars," he said. Musk was speaking at the launch of the new Tesla Model S, a car he insisted would shatter that illusion. It was no empty promise. Tesla's 2012 release of the Model S transformed the electric car market At the time electric cars had a long-standing reputation for being slow, uninspiring and impractical, with very limited range. Although new models such as the Nissan Leaf were starting to develop a niche following, they had yet to make much of an impact on the wider market. The Model S was powerful, had sportscar performance, and could travel up to 265 miles on a single charge. It wasn't cheap, starting at $57,000 (£47,000) in the US for the lowest performance version, but it certainly made a point. Since then, Tesla has launched four more models, including the Model X SUV, the "affordable" Model 3 and Model Y, and the Cybertruck. It now has huge, so-called gigafactories building cars in Shanghai and Berlin, in addition to its original facility in Fremont, California, and a number of other US sites. Last year, it delivered 1.8 million cars, suggesting it has established itself firmly as a mass-market manufacturer. But according to Professor Peter Wells, director of Cardiff University's Centre for Automotive Industry Research, that is part of the problem. "When Tesla first emerged, it had an exciting new product, a charismatic CEO, and it came across as really pioneering," he explains. Now though, the company "is no longer the entrepreneurial new entrant and upstart disrupter, but increasingly an industry incumbent with all the challenges this brings when faced with a growing array of competitors in the same market space". Other companies, like China's Nio, are offering more exciting products, says Prof Wells, while fellow Chinese firm BYD offers good performance at lower prices. "Basically, the world has caught up with Tesla," he says. Chinese electric car brand Nio is making cars with the wow factor There is no doubt that there is a lot more competition than there used to be. Following the diesel emissions scandal that engulfed it in 2015, Volkswagen began ploughing money into electric vehicles. And as governments around the world began looking seriously at eventual bans on the sale of new petrol and diesel models, other established manufacturers soon followed. Customers looking for an electric car with decent range and performance now have plenty of options to choose from. In China, meanwhile, policymakers have for years seen the development of electric vehicles (EVs) as an opportunity to take a significant share of the global market, and promoted their development. The result has been the rapid growth of brands such as BYD - which overtook Tesla to become the world's biggest manufacturer of electric cars at the end of last year. At the same time, as the EV market has become more established, in many parts of the world subsidies to help consumers buy them have been reined in. That may be one reason why the rampant growth in EV sales in recent years has eased off - and why the manufacturers themselves are having to drop their prices. According to independent auto analyst Matthias Schmidt, this has certainly had an impact on Tesla. "Finance ministers who were previously happy to offer attractive incentives for the purchase of a battery electric vehicle in a market environment that appeared bare-shelved, with essentially a Tesla or a Tesla on offer, are now slamming their purses shut," he says. One market in which this appears to have had a profound effect is Germany. A subsidy scheme offering thousands of euros off the cost of a new electric vehicle was abruptly ended in December. EV sales there fell sharply in the first three months of this year, with Tesla suffering a 36% drop compared to the same period in 2023. The question now is whether Tesla can regain lost momentum. Its maverick chief executive, Elon Musk appears to be pinning his hopes on the company becoming a leader in vehicle autonomy - a provider of driverless robot taxis. Last month, on his social media site X, he wrote: "Not quite betting the company, but going balls to the wall for autonomy is a blindingly obvious move. Everything else is like variations on a horse carriage". Elon Musk is betting on Tesla being the leader in driverless cars Yet Musk has been talking up the prospect of full autonomy a very long time. In 2019, for example, he promised that within a year there would be a million Teslas on the road capable of acting as robotaxis. The reality, so far, is rather different. Tesla's "Full Self Driving" package remains rather less than its title suggests - it is still a "hands on" system that requires the driver to be paying attention at all times. The quest for full autonomy does fit with Tesla's identity as a technology business, rather than a traditional carmaker. But Musk's critics believe it is simply a smokescreen to distract from other problems. Meanwhile, Tesla has been cutting prices to boost sales, and cutting costs and reducing headcount to improve its margins. Much as any other car company might do. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68947020

Face of Neanderthal woman buried in Iraqi cave 75,000 years ago revealed ‘Shanidar Z’ found in cave where Neanderthals repeatedly returned to bury their dead Vishwam Sankaran - 2 days ago Archaeologists have reconstructed the human-like face of a Neanderthal woman who lived 75,000 years ago in a cave where the extinct species may have conducted unique funerary rituals. Bone fragments of the Neanderthal woman, named Shanidar Z, were first unearthed in 2018 from a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan where her people may have repeatedly returned to lay their dead to rest. Studies since the 1950s have shown that the Neanderthals buried their dead in the cave and carried out funerary rituals, such as laying them to rest on a bed of flowers. In fact, evidence gathered from this cave site first suggested that the Neanderthals were far more sophisticated than the primitive creatures many had assumed them to be based on the stocky frame and ape-like brow associated with this archaic species of human. Although Neanderthal people, who are thought to have died out 40,000 years ago, had skulls quite different from those of humans, the rebuilt face of this Neanderthal woman – thought to have been in her forties when she died – shows that their appearance was human-like. The findings are revealed in a new documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals, produced by the BBC and released on Netflix worldwide. “Neanderthal skulls have huge brow ridges and lack chins, with a projecting midface that results in more prominent noses,” said Dr Emma Pomeroy, from Cambridge University’s archaeology department. “But the recreated face suggests those differences were not so stark in life.” She continued: “It’s perhaps easier to see how interbreeding occurred between our species, to the extent that almost everyone alive today still has Neanderthal DNA.” The recreated head of Neanderthal woman ‘Shanidar Z’ (Jamie Simonds) The woman’s remains, including a skull flattened to around 2cm thick, are some of the best-preserved Neanderthal fossils found this century, researchers said. Her head is thought to have been crushed, possibly by rockfall, soon after her death, likely after her brain decomposed but before her skull filled with dirt. After carefully exposing the remains, including her skeleton almost to the waist, Cambridge researchers used a glue-like consolidant to strengthen the bones and surrounding sediment. They removed Shanidar Z in small foil-wrapped blocks from under 7.5 metres of soil and rock within the heart of the “flower funeral” cave. They then pieced together more than 200 pieces of her skull to return it to its original shape, including her upper and lower jaws. “It’s like a high-stakes 3D jigsaw puzzle. A single block can take over a fortnight to process,” said Dr Pomeroy, who features in the new documentary. The researchers surface-scanned the reconstructed skull and 3D-printed it, further adding layers of fabricated muscle and skin to reveal her face. The skull of Shanidar Z, which was used to reconstruct her face in a Cambridge University lab (Jamie Simonds) Analysis from the dig suggests that Shanidar Z was laid to rest in a gully formed by running water, which had been further hollowed out by hand to accommodate her body. She had been leant against the side, with her left hand curled under her head, and a rock had been placed behind her head. The woman’s skeleton is the fifth to be found in a cluster of bodies buried at a similar time in the same location, behind a two-metre-tall vertical rock at the centre of the cave. The entrance to Shanidar Cave in the Zagros mountains of northern Iraq (Graeme Barker) The researchers also found traces of charred food, including carbonised pieces of wild seeds and nuts in the soil around the body cluster, suggesting that the Neanderthals may have prepared food in the presence of their dead. “The body of Shanidar Z was within arm’s reach of living individuals cooking with fire and eating. For these Neanderthals, there does not appear to be that clear separation between life and death,” Dr Pomeroy said. “Our discoveries show that the Shanidar Neanderthals may have been thinking about death and its aftermath in ways not so very different from their closest evolutionary cousins, ourselves,” said archaeologist Graeme Barker, who led the excavations at the cave. The cave may have served as a landmark for the Neanderthals as it appears to have been a unique site for repeated burials, the researchers said. “We can see that Neanderthals are coming back to one particular spot to bury their dead. This could be decades or even thousands of years apart,” Dr Pomeroy said. “Is it just a coincidence, or is it intentional, and if so what brings them back?” Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/neanderthal-iraq-cave-woman-face-reveal-b2538288.html

I am halfway through this bundle I purchased some time ago. A month? Beats me my mind is a sieve. Today is a rainy day so I'm following the ballgame by the fireplace. Cozy and calls for a nice cigar! Got my blanky 👶. I will preface this by saying I'm a slob when it comes to cigar ash. I always say to myself "I'll ash this in a couple puffs" only to have said ash all over the front of me. Cigar bibs for 400 bucks vs a few swear words and an ash stain, I'll take the latter,seeing how I have no wife to get on my case. Blah blah back to the cigar! I will say these are great! Very good construction. The flavors are woody and sweet,deep flavor. Excellent! This cigar is better than the Montecristo I had yesterday!. I ashed it at like almost 2 inches of ash because frankly I find holding a cigar upright tiresome. Also I had cheated fate long enough! This cigar evolved a bit with sweetness,woodiness,leather,and cream. I'm a big fan! I didn't really pay attention to the thirds due to yelling at the Giants for sucking so far against the Phillies . Solid 5 on a 1 to 6 scale. Upper level smokes. Prez and Hammy have done phenomenal with these cigar lines.

Spada Gorda