Seen in the News

[Stanley]

Sorry, but they don't float my boat. I have what I regard as a healthy urge to have control of anything I am riding in that is faster than walking pace!
I can see the value to research but that's my limit.
I have this image of waiting to cross the road faced with a procession of driverless vehicles endlessly filing past three vehicle lengths apart. What we need is a universal remote control to stop the procession!

[Tizer]

On a day when Boris Johnson plunges us into the unknown here at least is some great news...
`Detectorists find huge Chew Valley Norman coin hoard' LINK
`...The Chew Valley hoard contains 1,236 coins of Harold II, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, and 1,310 coins of William I, as well as several coin fragments...Experts say the hoard is "hugely significant" as it contains double the number of Harold coins than all the previous known finds combined. It also includes further examples of coins issued by William I after his coronation on Christmas Day in 1066. Initial studies indicate previously unrecorded mints for both king's coins in the haul. Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coinage at the British Museum, said: "This is an extremely significant find for our understanding of the impact of the Norman Conquest of 1066. ..'.

[Stanley]

If the Coroner decides it is treasure the finders and the landowners are quids in. Good luck to them!

[PanBiker]

It will be declared as treasure, there is no doubt about that. One report said that a private collector was interested in acquiring the hoard when it goes on sale, they will need very deep pockets. It's an important discovery for our national heritage and as such will be secured by the nation for the nation. It will provide study material for years. No wishful thinking when one of the detectorists said, "we might buy a house, or maybe two!" It will be a 50/50 split between the finders and the landowner.

[Stanley]

I heard that interview Ian. Sales of metal detectors will be boosted! Something I always fancied but never got round to.

[Tripps]

True North

Looks like I can forget the mnemonic 'mag to grid - get rid'.

It won't be easy though. . . .

[Stanley]

And every now and then in geological time Earth can reverse polarity and they point South.
I think that's right, enter Tiz stage left.....

[Tizer]

This is a good article on Earth's magnetic reversals: LINK
The bottom line is - don't worry about it!

[Stanley]

He's like that geyser in Yellowstone National Park, 'Old Faithful'. I knew he would know the answer!

[Tizer]

Here are photos by another lorry driver who took up photography to capture history. (Although Stanley's pics are higher quality!)...
`In pictures: A time capsule of Leeds' lost buildings' LINK
I like the New Eagle pub best!

[Stanley]

I passed that pub many times when using the Ring Road to get past Leeds and out into the East Riding.
(Thanks for the comment!)

[Tizer]

`M6 gin crash: Motorway reopens after lorry collision' LINK
I enjoyed the puns in the final police tweet!

[Stanley]

Thanks for that Tiz. Why is the spilling of alcohol so entertaining?

[Stanley]

Heard during a discussion about digital currencies on World Service. "There are more $100 bills in circulation in the US than $1 bills"
A sign of the times?
Later on World Service. Fact Checker says that since taking office Donald Trump has posted more than ten thousand misleading statements on Twitter. Why does that not surprise me? (LINK)

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on Amber Rudd voting with her feet.

[Tizer]

This type of report always acts, for me, as an antidote to all the talk of going to Mars. Let's find out about our own planet first!
`Victor Vescovo: Adventurer reaches deepest ocean locations' LINK

[Stanley]

I listened to an interview with him on R4. Particularly struck by his account of the peace and quiet down there. Also, 16,000psi!

[Stanley]

The resignation of Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton. Good!
I agree with one commentator who said the world is now a safer place. We don't need hawks, we need doves!

[Tizer]

More evidence of how gullible people can be - and why we shouldn't make big decisions based on referendum results!
`'Red mercury': why does the myth persist?' LINK
`For centuries rumours have persisted about a powerful and mysterious substance. And these days, adverts and videos offering it for sale can be found online. Why has the story of "red mercury" endured? Some people believe it's a magical healing elixir found buried in the mouths of ancient Egyptian mummies. Or could it be a powerful nuclear material that might bring about the apocalypse? Videos on YouTube extol its vampire-like properties. Others claim it can be found in vintage sewing machines or in the nests of bats. There's one small problem with these tales - the substance doesn't actually exist. Red mercury is a red herring....'.

I was amused when I saw and recognised the photo of the red crystal at the end of the story. I've got a specimen of cinnabar (mercury sulphide) in a sealed jar by where I'm sitting now. I could claim to have red mercury and sell it to a Saudi prince!

[Stanley]

Nice one! Closely related to my post in Science News, people believing that they are right. Think Jehovah's Witnesses and politicians. Remember Jimmy Reid! "Beware of certitude!".

[Whyperion]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-49694516

US and Brazil agree an Amazon economic development programme.

hopefully this strikes a balance between sustainable profitable employment in the region and bio-diversity (including suitable uses for things we have not found yet ?)

[Whyperion]

From the BBC Website of Today

Here are the 69 English towns, cities and districts that will benefit from the government's £95m regeneration fund:

North West:
Barrow in Furness
Lancaster
Maryport, Cumbria
Blackpool
Fleetwood
Kirkham
Ormskirk
Prescot
Chester

Bacup, Rossendale
Burnley

Stalybridge
Tyldesley, Greater Manchester
Wigan Town Centre
{ My notes, Tyldesley, Wigan and Bolton could do with Tram links to Manchester - though the rail network could be promoted better- one thing
og the northern powerhouse and HS1 is that the north is Manchester Town Centre - without much thought to the 10/20 mile radius around it that really has the potential beyond manchesters financial and night time economy !

North East & Yorkshire:

Barnsley
Middlesbrough
North Shields
Hexham
Northallerton
Scarborough CA, Castle ward
Huddersfield
Hull
Leeds
Wakefield
Selby Town Centre
Sowerby Bridge
Skipton


Midlands:
Oswestry
Buxton
Grantham
Lincoln
Newark-on-Trent Town Centre
Stoke on Trent
Hinckley
Wednesbury Town Centre
Brierley Hill
Coventry
Leominster
Kettering Town Centre
Leicester City Centre


East of England:
King's Lynn
Great Yarmouth
Lowestoft
North Walsham
Swaffham
Bedford
Dunstable


South West
Tewkesbury
Gloucester
Keynsham
Weston-Super-Mare
Midsomer Norton
Chard
Cullompton
Plymouth
Redruth
Poole

London and the South East:
Croydon
Harlesden
Tottenham
Tower Hamlets
Woolwich

Chatham Intra
Ramsgate
Hastings
Newport
Ryde
Reading
Gosport


{I suspect most of the money will go to paving, and promotional activities, as actually to my mind some of the locations are not totally failing as town centres and have re-build work already happening - particulary London ones, others are suffering from systemic changes in economic ways of how things occur, but if forward looking and maybe attemption to have a more balanced residential/retail / commercial/ good transport to town centre ares the funding could be useful including restoration of heritage assets.

[Stanley]

THIS BBC story about the rise of 'Corgi Cafés' in the Far east. My memories of Corgis is not a happy one, I have only been bitten twice by dogs and one of them was a Cardigan Corgi which I am told are the nastiest ones. I think that this the type the Queen favours.... We do hear occasional stories about them biting the servants!
Do you remember the story about Princess Anne turning up at Balmoral for Xmas with a bull terrier and the first thing it did on arrival was kill one of the Royal Corgis? I'll bet that made for strained conversations over the festive season.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the sharp rise in oil prices after the Saudi refinery attack. Not good timing! Events Dear Boy.

[Whyperion]

BBC Website
"The UK's international trade secretary has apologised to a court for two breaches of a pledge not to licence exports to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the Yemen conflict."

Ministers promised to stop approving shipments in June after a challenge by campaigners at the Court of Appeal.

Liz Truss said the granting of licences for £435,000 of radio spares and a £200 air cooler for the Royal Saudi Land Forces had been "inadvertent".

Personally I dont think I have ever been in favour of 'the arms trade' to anyone, but somehow the wide interpretaion of "could be used in ... conflict." has visions of a giant fridge being dropped on someones cooking pots to stop them eating warm food, and as neccessary as radio coms can be- including drone control, the though of spare for ones sony tranistor to pick up the world service again seems a small and insignificant contribution to the on the ground military agression, I can see where any export dept officials would have seen the same views.