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March 23, 2023 - USAID leadership held an event to launch the Agency’s new Policy Framework: Driving Progress Beyond Programs. Following the launch, USAID leadership participated in an interactive conversation with audience members. The event took place in Washington, D.C., USA, and audience members around the world tuned in virtually. USAID
Question Mark. Aus der Serie „Satzzeichen“ 2014
Rotierende Skulptur aus Lianen Findling, fluoriszierendes Klebeband, schwarze Totenkopf Büchse und Schwarz Licht
Skulptur, Objekt, Video, Installation, Fotografie
Markus Wintersberger 2014
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (The Stargate Mix)
Depeche Mode are an English electronic band that formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group consists of founders Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (guitar, keyboards, vocals, main songwriter since 1982), and Andy Fletcher (keyboards, bass guitar). Depeche Mode released their debut album Speak & Spell in 1981, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Original band member Vince Clarke (keyboards, guitar, main songwriter from 1980 to 1981), left the band after the release of the album, leaving the band as a trio to record A Broken Frame, released the following year. Gore took over the lead songwriting duties and, later in 1982, Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, bass guitar, occasional songwriter) officially joined the band to fill Clarke's spot, establishing a line up that would continue for the next 13 years. Depeche Mode have been a trio again since 1995, when Wilder left.
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Carlos Alberto Montaner: 5 Questions with U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo on Cuba & Latin America
Latin American genius Carlos Alberto Montaner interviews U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
On the roof of his house, British soldiers take details from a suspected militant during a night time arrest operation. At this stage they are interested in personal details only; later he will face more detailed questioning by fluent Arabic speakers. Basrah, August 2006.
Question about World War II veterans - How many people you killed during the war?
Answer - Not one.
Question - How did you have so many awards?
Reply-Fascists killed.
អ្នកជំនាញភាសាអង់គ្លេស Andrea Echelberger ដឹកនាំកម្មវិធី ក្រោមប្រធានបទ "ការសន្ទនាជាភាសាអង់គ្លេស" ។ អ្នកចូលរួមបានរៀនពីរបៀបបន្តការសន្ទនា ដោយការនិយាយឡើងវិញ និងការប្រើពាក្យសំនួរអង់គ្លេស ដែលផ្តើមដោយព្យញ្ជនៈ WH ។ សកម្មភាពនេះជួយ ដល់អ្នកចូលរួមវ័យក្មេងទាំងនេះ អោយមានទំនុកចិត្ត នៅពេលពិភាក្សាជាភាសាអង់គ្លេស។
សមាជិកក្លឹបភាសាអង់គ្លេស ជួបគ្នាម្តងមួយខែ នៅមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលធនធានពត៌មាន។ វាគឺជាឱកាសមួយ សម្រាប់សិស្សនិស្សិតនិងអ្នកដទៃទៀត ក្នុងការបង្កើនជំនាញភាសាអង់គ្លេសរបស់ពួកគេ។
On June 1, 2015, the Information Resource Center of the U.S. Embassy welcomed a group of 20 university students for the monthly English Club.
English Language Fellow Andrea Echelberger led the group through activities on "Improving Converstion in English". The participants learned how to paraphrase and use WH question words to continue conversations. This activity built confidence in these young participants to engage in dynamic discussion in English.
English Club meets once a month at the Information Resource Center. It is an opportunity for students and others to develop their English skills.
[U.S. Embassy photo by Pin Samphos]
Si sur les quais, c'est l'heure du grand nettoyage, sous le chapiteau Radio France, on vit la route du Rhum. Chaque jour, à midi, le public est invité à suivre l'actualité de la compétition.
Reportage
Hier, 11 h 30, le long des quais. L'affluence contraste avec celle des jours passés. Les bénévoles de la Route du Rhum s'activent devant les bassins Dugay-Trouin et Vauban pour démonter les stands. Le village de la course a fermé ses portes dimanche et les navigateurs, pour la plupart, sont déjà loin.
Mais sur l'esplanade Saint-Vincent, on continue de suivre la course. À l'espace Radio France, le journal consacré aux nouvelles de la transatlantique se prépare.
« On a vu le stand et comme il ne fait pas beau, on vient voir ce qu'il s'y passe », indiquent Soizic et Sylvain, de Toulouse. Pierrick, un Nîmois, est venu s'informer lui aussi. « La nuit de dimanche à lundi a été agitée, donc je voulais en savoir plus sur les événements. »
Tous les jours, jusqu'au 11 novembre, l'espace accueille l'équipe d'organisation de la course et le public pour un point sur l'avancée des bateaux et la météo. « C'est ici qu'il faut être pour avoir des informations », poursuit un journaliste.
Abandons, problèmes techniques, casse...
Il est midi, le direct commence. C'est parti pour une heure et demie de nouvelles. Et justement, « l'actualité est brûlante, annonce Serge Herbin, l'animateur de l'émission. Il y a eu beaucoup d'avaries et beaucoup de problèmes, ces dernières heures. » Gildas Morvan, invité à participer au direct, revient sur la météo exécrable de la nuit.
Abandons, problèmes techniques, casse... Tous les incidents de la première nuit que les skippers ont vécue sur l'eau sont passés en revue. « Sodebo (Thomas Coville) a dû arrêter sa course après avoir heurté un cargo. Maître Jacques (Loïc Féquet) a le flotteur tribord cassé... » Les informations ne sont pas très bonnes. « Il y a eu 19 problèmes techniques ou retours au port », détaille Serge Herbin.
Le journal se poursuit avec l'intervention du directeur de la course, d'un météorologue et des rédacteurs.
Pour cette 10e édition de la Route du Rhum, c'est la première fois que le PC course reste à Saint-Malo. « On a vécu dix jours magnifiques avec les Malouins. On voulait aussi leur permettre de vivre la course et les premières arrivées », indique Marie Le Berrigaud-Perochon, responsable du service presse. Car selon les pronostics, les plus gros bateaux devraient être proches de la ligne d'arrivée, dès le 9 novembre. (OF)
La société Pen Duick, qui organise l'événement, finance une étude pour analyser les conséquences de la course sur l'environnement. Le Cap Fréhel, qui a accueilli 40 000 spectateurs dimanche, est concerné.
La présence de milliers de spectateurs, dimanche, sur la lande du Cap Fréhel aura-t-elle un impact sur la biodiversité du site ? La question inquiète les associations environnementales qui avaient appelé les gens à « rester chez eux », pour regarder le départ de la Route du Rhum.
« Il y a eu moins de monde que prévu, se félicite Jérémy Allain, directeur de VivArmor Nature. C'est une première satisfaction. » Le dispositif de sécurité était taillé pour l'accueil de 60 000 personnes. Le nouveau préfet des Côtes-d'Armor avait fait le choix de privilégier la protection des hommes à la protection de l'environnement. Des zones de lande, habituellement fermées, ont été ouvertes pour augmenter la capacité d'accueil du site, alors que l'accès au bord des falaises était interdit.
50 000 € pour l'environnement
« On comprend l'inquiétude en terme de sécurité. Mais cette mesure est inadéquate avec la protection de l'habitat naturel », regrette Jérémy Allain, qui ne voit donc qu'une seule solution : limiter l'accès au site à un certain nombre de personnes. « On ne peut pas protéger le site en permanence et dire tous les quatre ans ' on s'en fout '. »
Une fois la foule partie, dimanche après-midi, Claudine Belliard, maire de Plévenon, était, elle, plutôt optimiste : « Vu les conditions météo, les gens sont arrivés plus tard et ils sont repartis assez tôt. Une heure de piétinement intense tous les quatre ans ne devrait pas avoir trop d'effets. »
Depuis quelques années, une directive européenne impose, aux organisateurs d'événements, de réaliser des études d'incidence sur les sites protégés du réseau Natura 2000. Le Cap Fréhel et la Pointe du Grouin sont particulièrement concernés. « La Route du Rhum est le premier événement confronté à la mise en application de cette directive, explique Pierre Bojic, le directeur général de Pen Duick. Nous devons donc établir un état des lieux avant la manifestation, le lendemain et quelques semaines après. »
Cette étude sera analysée à la loupe par les services de l'État qui, en fonction des résultats, adapteront leurs mesures pour les prochaines éditions. La société organisatrice a fait appel à une agence spécialisée, pour un coût de 25 000 €. C'est la moitié de l'investissement global de l'organisation dans la protection de l'environnement. (OF)
Taken last year and stupidly overlooked on my part. A cold night gave way to a bright morning. It was a relief to feel the Sun's warmth. I particularly liked how this cloud arched above Ingleborough like some huge question mark.
Some of you may have noticed that, unfortunately, owing to the fact that a certain person who sells truck photos on eBay commercially has been lifting my images from this album and selling them I have had to remove 2300 photos that didn't have a watermark. I have now run around 1700 through Lightroom and added a watermark with the intention of bulk uploading them again. Rather than watermark the existing (hidden) files in Flickr one at a time it will be easier to do it this way. I definitely won’t be adding individual tags with the make and model of each vehicle I will just add generic transport tags. Each photo is named after the vehicle and reg in any case. For anyone new to these images there is a chapter and verse explanation below. It is staggering how many times I get asked questions that a quick scan would answer or just as likely I can’t possibly answer – I didn’t take them, but, just to clarify-I do own the copyright- and I do pursue copyright theft.
This is a collection of scanned prints from a collection of photographs taken by the late Jim Taylor A number of years ago I was offered a large number of photographs taken by Jim Taylor, a transport photographer based in Huddersfield. The collection, 30,000 prints, 20,000 negatives – and copyright! – had been offered to me and one of the national transport magazines previously by a friend of Jim's, on behalf of Jim's wife. I initially turned them down, already having over 30,000 of my own prints filed away and taking space up. Several months later the prints were still for sale – at what was, apparently, the going rate. It was a lot of money and I deliberated for quite a while before deciding to buy them. I did however buy them directly from Jim’s wife and she delivered them personally – just to quash the occasional rumour from people who can’t mind their own business. Although some prints were sold elsewhere, particularly the popular big fleet stuff, I should have the negatives, unfortunately they came to me in a random mix, 1200 to a box, without any sort of indexing and as such it would be impossible to match negatives to prints, or, to even find a print of any particular vehicle. I have only ever looked at a handful myself unless I am scanning them. The prints are generally in excellent condition and I initially stored them in a bedroom without ever looking at any of them. In 2006 I built an extension and they had to be well protected from dust and moved a few times. Ultimately my former 6x7 box room office has become their (and my own work’s) permanent home.
I hope to avoid posting images that Jim had not taken his self, however should I inadvertently infringe another photographers copyright, please inform me by email and I will resolve the issue immediately. There are copyright issues with some of the photographs that were sold to me. A Flickr member from Scotland drew my attention to some of his own work amongst the first uploads of Jim’s work. I had a quick look through some of the 30 boxes of prints and decided that for the time being the safest thing for me to do was withdraw the majority of the earlier uploaded scans and deal with the problem – which I did. whilst the vast majority of the prints are Jims, there is a problem defining copyright of some of them, this is something that the seller did not make clear at the time. I am reasonably confident that I have since been successful in identifying Jims own work. His early work consists of many thousands of lustre 6x4 prints which are difficult to scan well, later work is almost entirely 7x5 glossy, much easier to scan. Not all of the prints are pin sharp but I can generally print successfully to A4 from a scan.
You may notice photographs being duplicated in this Album, unfortunately there are multiple copies of many prints (for swapping) and as I have to have a system of archiving and backing up I can only guess - using memory - if I have scanned a print before. The bigger fleets have so many similar vehicles and registration numbers that it is impossible to get it right all of the time. It is easier to scan and process a print than check my files - on three different PC’s - for duplicates. There has not been, nor will there ever be, any intention to knowingly breach anyone else's copyright. I have presented the Jim Taylor collection as exactly that-The Jim Taylor Collection- his work not mine, my own work is quite obviously mine.
Unfortunately, many truck spotters have swapped and traded their work without copyright marking it as theirs. These people never anticipated the ease with which images would be shared online in the future. I would guess that having swapped and traded photos for many years that it is almost impossible to control their future use. Anyone wanting to control the future use of their work would have been well advised to copyright mark their work (as many did) and would be well advised not to post them on photo sharing sites without a watermark as the whole point of these sites is to share the image, it is very easy for those that wish, to lift any image, despite security settings, indeed, Flickr itself, warns you that this is the case. It was this abuse and theft of my material that led me to watermark all of my later uploads. I may yet withdraw non-watermarked photos, I haven’t decided yet. (I did in the end)
To anyone reading the above it will be quite obvious that I can’t provide information regarding specific photos or potential future uploads – I didn’t take them! There are many vehicles that were well known to me as Jim only lived down the road from me (although I didn’t know him), however scanning, titling, tagging and uploading is laborious and time consuming enough, I do however provide a fair amount of information with my own transport (and other) photos. I am aware that there are requests from other Flickr users that are unanswered, I stumble across them months or years after they were posted, this isn’t deliberate. Some weekends one or two “enthusiasts” can add many hundreds of photos as favourites, this pushes requests that are in the comments section ten or twenty pages out of sight and I miss them. I also have notifications switched off, I receive around 50 emails a day through work and I don’t want even more from Flickr. Other requests, like many other things, I just plain forget – no excuses! Uploads of Jim’s photos will be infrequent as it is a boring pastime and I would much rather work on my own output.
See My entire photostream at:
www.flickr.com/photos/spookykittencouture
View my items for sale, or convo me for a custom item:
I custom draft patterns for fit and style, and can base your design on a photograph, sketch, or combine multiple inspiration ideas into one great garment!
Please feel free to contact me at either site above, I usually respond within 24 hours.
Some frequently asked questions:
Yes, I do international shipping orders
yes, I source/find/purchase/provide the materials for your garment, unless you have some that you would like used
Yes, I make items in ALL sizes. Every single one. I can custom design something no matter what your height/weight/bra-size etc. I even have experience working with non-average figures including loss of appendages (arms, legs, etc.) and accommodating a severe disability/unusual shape.
Yes, i respond to everyone. I will always reply! (if you don't hear from me, i either didn't get the message, or am on a freak internet break)
Yes, I can do rush orders, please convo as soon as you can about planning
Yes, i can do payment plans for larger projects, convo me
Yes, I am a real person in California USA, I am not an assembly line/sweatshop/slavedriver. Me and my family work on every item start to finish.
Yes, I love Project Runway, but no, i don't want to be on it!
Yes, I love the odd/strange/weird projects, but I also love the impeccably simple bridal gown as well.
No, I do not have a minimum. Small projects are welcome.
Yes, I help with the total package. I can help you find the accessories you need to complete the look, and all the underpinnings and other garments you may need to get the right shape for the garment. I like to make sure you are happy with the end result as much as I am.
If you have a question not on here, please feel free to convo me at the above sites.
Thanks for viewing!
2017-06-13: An official asking questions during African Forestry Investment Conference in Accra, Ghana.
There should be a giant question mark on my face at all times because I just don't know.
I feel like I'm in this weird transitional part of my life.
My mind is just racing with what ifs lately. Should I do this? What if I do that? Do I want to do that? How about this? Or why not? It's draining, very draining. I get ahead of myself, and start thinking about a year from now, trying to plan, and I can't.
I'm like this floating blob of a human.
Plus I feel like I'm a 22 year old (okay, in a week & a half) living a 17 year old's life. What I do now is pretty much no different than what I did when I was 17. Well, except pay bills & work constantly. I still live with my parents, I'm still in school. I'm not sure where I think I should be, just somewhere else. My best friend's going to be graduating from grad school around this time next year.
The only big NEXT STEP there is, besides getting my degree, is moving out.
"In the United States... to question the #establishment is to question God, therefore one's #patriotism and salvation are contingent on their submission to the state."-James Scott, Senior Fellow, ICIT and CCIOS
#WakeUpAmerica #QAnon #MAGA #tcot #GreatAwakening #TheStorm
U2 answer fans' questions at Somerville Theatre. Photo taken by Steve Lawrence for @U2, www.atu2.com. Please contact for usage: Contact @U2
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly 30th annual session - General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions / 30ème session annuelle de lâAssemblée Parlementaire de lâOSCE - Commission générale de la démocratie, des droits de lâhomme et des questions humanitaires
Vancouver, British Columbia, Colombie Britanique, on July 1, 2023.
© HOC-CDC, 2023
Credit: Bernard Thibodeau, House of Commons Photo Services
The question here is how to delete all messages in gmail quickly. In the process of using Gmail you often receive unwanted emails (spam), although you have set up to block spam. The following article will guide you how to quickly delete or delete all email in Gmail.
If you do not use all of the email in your inbox anymore,delete them to reduce the size of Gmail. Here’s how to delete all messages in Gmail quickly.
===>> create a gmail account
INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO DELETE ALL MESSAGES IN GMAIL
Step #1: Login to gmail account. (If you have not Gmail, sign up here)
Step #2: Click your Inbox, to tick all emails in your Inbox, click as shown below:
Step #3: Next, to delete all messages in Gmail, click on trash icon (picture shown below)
Thus, all those emails will be deleted from your inbox quickly, you do not need to delete in turn each emails.
www.gmailemaillogin.net just explained how to delete all messages in Gmail. Deleting all your email in Yahoo also similar. Hopefully this tip will help you a lot during use Gmail service.
Question: How do you get three overly excited kids to stand still and look in the same direction so you can get a picture?
Answer: You don't. You just keep shooting and hopefully you'll catch all three looking the same way with smiles all at the same time.
I bought a cool drawing programme for my iPod Touch. I did this sketch on my iPod. Not Davinci, but impressive tool, I must admit.
Bambi listens to a question during the voting period. 2008 Miss Adams Morgan Pageant. Washington Hilton, Washington, DC.
See also Let There Be Voting.
Behind the scenes portrait of Rita Hayworth, director Charles Vidor and Brian Aherne from The Lady in Question by M.B. Paul
Latergram from Tuesday’s QP.
Proud to serve as the Leader of Canada’s Conservatives. Our team will continue to work hard each and every day to hold Justin Trudeau and the Liberals accountable for hiking taxes in order to pay for his billion dollar deficits.
Latergram de la période des questions de mardi.
Je suis fier d’être le chef des conservateurs du Canada. Notre équipe va continuer à travailler fort tous les jours pour demander des comptes à Justin Trudeau et aux libérauxqui augmentent les impôts pour payer leurs déficits de milliards de dollars.
The importance of asking questions has occupied the human mind since time immemorial. Posing questions to friends, figures of authority – even oneself – can lead not only to information, but also enlightenment. Such has been the approach of singer/songwriter Dolores O’Riordan. First bursting upon the music scene as lead singer of The Cranberries (whose debut album was snappily titled Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?), O’Riordan has been following a solo path since 2003. Her first solo disc, Are You Listening?, came out in 2007; now she presents her Cooking Vinyl Records follow-up, the slyly-titled No Baggage.
“I probably haven’t worn my heart on my sleeve like this since the second Cranberries album [1994’s No Need to Argue],” she says. “It’s at times very confessional and dealing with my true emotions. Everyone, through their experiences or their background, has had terrible moments where they think they can’t handle it. With this record I’m trying to show that, no matter how bad things may seem, it’s not really that bad in the big picture.”
Looking forward and backwards – sometimes simultaneously – is one of the new work’s primary themes, as evidenced on such key tracks as the quasi-Beatlesque ‘Fly Through’ and its yearning for unambiguous solutions, the bittersweet nostalgia of the insinuatingly catchy ‘It’s You’, and the blunt, seemingly self-critical ‘Stupid’. “That one’s about how some people, maybe a lot of people, can feel when they find themselves in a difficult situation,” O’Riordan explains, “and how that can continue to affect them years later.” A similar approach permeates ‘Skeleton’, which takes its title not just from the physical structure at each person’s core but also from the all-too-common “skeletons in the closet” that we all have. Not for nothing does the song advise that, despite frequent wishes to the contrary, “You can’t outrun your skeleton”. “The way children, and many adults, have this fear of skeletons was something I wanted to explore,” O’Riordan says. “We all have one, physically and spiritually, and realizing that can make you a stronger person. Learning to accept your experiences, and see how they’ve made you the person you are, is something I feel very strongly about.”
Always a keen observer of human behavior in its many manifestations, O’Riordan says that lately she’s been taking a closer look at her place in life, securely in what she calls a “middle generation” between her parents and her children. “It’s been said before,” she muses, “but it’s incredible how quickly life evolves. Life really is a journey, and there’s no such thing as perfection, really. I’ve come to see how important it is to accept the challenges and uncertainties that come up, and to accept them as a part of life. I never lack for inspiration,” she adds, noting the ever-developing perspectives she shares with her various family members. “A lot of this material was written and inspired by what’s around me. I know I’m fortunate to still have my parents, and I didn’t want to be one of those people who’s always on the road or in the studio who suddenly realizes they should have spent more time with their children. Certain moments only last for so long,” she notes, “and it’s important to live within those moments.” Those moments nowadays are often spent with her husband Don Burton, their three children (aged 3 to 12), and a 17-year-old son from Burton’s previous relationship. Together they split time between Dublin and Ontario, Canada, where she takes solace and inspiration from a home “deep in the woods. There’s lots of wildlife around, and it’s about as far away from ‘society’ as you can get. It makes for a nice little escape.”
O’Riordan knows something about escape. Born in 1971 in Ballybricken, Limerick, Ireland, she answered an ad in the early 1990s placed by brothers Noel and Mike Hogan seeking a lead singer for what was then called The Cranberry Saw Us. Impressed by O’Riordan’s soaring vocal style and songwriting skill – she already had a rough version of “Linger” in hand – they soon offered her the gig. Led by “Linger”, debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It … eventually hit #1 in Britain. Follow-up No Need to Argue cemented the group’s popularity via such popular tracks as ‘Zombie’ ‘Ridiculous Thoughts’, and ‘Ode to My Family’ ultimately being certified 5x platinum in Europe (hitting # 1 in Germany, Austria, and Australia, and # 2 in the U.K.), and 7x platinum in the U.S. A massive tour followed, with stops in England, Europe, the U.S. and Mexico, and the band – in particular, O’Riordan – started regularly popping up on the covers of music magazines, from Rolling Stone and Pulse to Q, Vox, and Musikexpress. Sold-out shows in Japan and Australia soon followed. The heavier-sounding To the Faithful Departed (1996) – which also hit # 2 in the U.K. - was followed by 1999’s Bury the Hatchet and 2001’s Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, each amply illustrating an evolving maturity and confidence – but also increasingly hinting at a growing world-weariness on the part of its seemingly tireless lead singer. Accolades and opportunities continued to proliferate: In 1996 she appeared at Luciano Pavarotti’s annual “Pavarotti & Friends” charity concert in his hometown of Modena, Italy, performing ‘Ave Maria’ with the maestro and a version of ‘Linger’ with Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon.
After thirteen years, five albums, countless concerts (including some opening stints on the Rolling Stones’ Licks tour), and enormous international success with The Cranberries, in 2003 O’Riordan decided she’d had enough. “It had become too much of a compromise,” she says of stardom. “At the end of the day, I was very much feeling like a product. The weird thing about having success with a record is that everyone says, ‘Okay, now the next one has to be bigger and better!’ Eventually it becomes very much a ball-and-chain situation, and I got tired of it. I wanted to be free of that collar.” Living in the wilds of Ontario became a meditative experience, time which O’Riordan spent painting, volunteering at a local school, and generally “becoming human again. I needed to figure out that, if I wasn’t the singer of The Cranberries, then who am I?” Walking away from music for good, however, ultimately proved not to be an option. “I started writing just for the sake of writing,” she recalls, “and over time I realized I wanted to get back into the spotlight a bit. There was a sort of ‘Why do you want to do it all again?’ feeling, but by that time the world was a different place, and I was surprised to find that I’d been missed. There was a kind of respect there, waiting for me. Sometimes it’s good to go away for awhile,” she laughs. Indeed, even during her prolonged break she was invited by Pope Benedict XVI to appear at the Vatican’s annual Christmas concert in 2005, performing ‘Adeste Fideles’ with Italian singer Gianluca Terranova and a new version of ‘Linger’ – her only live performance of that year. Meanwhile, sessions for Are You Listening? went smoothly and a tour followed its release.
Falling back into bad habits was, however, never on the agenda. “There’s only so much wine you can drink on the road,” she declares, “so instead I took to writing songs to hold me together. You always feel guilty for being away from your family when you’re touring, but I was able to create this spiritual outlet. A lot of the songs came really fast.” O’Riordan co-produced No Baggage with Ontario-based Dan Brodbeck, resulting in a bright, clean sound that finds the singer’s still-astoundingly emotive voice front and center, be it on the gorgeously piano ballad ‘Lunatic’ or the forthright, anthemic rocker ‘Be Careful’. But there’s also room for sonic experimentation, most obviously on ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’, with its Indian-styled instrumentation and structure. It’s a song that O’Riordan is clearly proud of. “That song’s really about how there are two kinds of people: those who are believers and have faith, and those who scoff at such things,” she says. “It has a kind of mysterious sound to it, unpredictable; it doesn’t sound anything like normal.”
Some fans may also be surprised to hear that O’Riordan remains friends with her former bandmates, but, after all, The Cranberries never really split up; instead, they went on hiatus. In fact, in January, O’Riordan played a set at Dublin’s Trinity College with the brothers Hogan to commemorate her being made an Honorary Patron of Trinity’s Philosophical Society. “We sort of checked each other out at first, counting gray hairs and examining waistlines,” she laughs. “But when we started playing it was as if we’d never stopped; there were no nerves, nothing weird. It was completely natural, and it was nice to know that we still have that.” Small wonder, then, that the ever-inquisitive O’Riordan continues to view life – and her place in it – with stoic calm.
The question posed by No Baggage is, clearly, meant sardonically. “I hope listeners find some comfort and can relate to what they hear with this record,” she says. “The key is to realize that there’s always hope. Thinking that can make it so.”