Seen in the News

[Stanley]

Peter, as if we hadn't enough to worry about!
I'm listening to a World Service report on research that has been done on public nudity and its effects on body image perception. The results were almost all positive. I remember well the pool party I went to in California many years ago where I found that the main event was skinny dipping. All my instincts recoiled but ten minutes later I was going with the flow and was surprised to find how enjoyable the experience was. If asked again I would participate. I have no idea what this says about me and my perception of my own body image!

[plaques]

Never mind skinny dipping the UK trend is open water swimming. The first requirement is to build up a decent layer of blubber then don your head to toe dry suit plus a thick double vinyl head cap. No swimming below a set minimum temperature and no putting your head in the water (breaststroke only) in certain locations to minimise exposure to industrial waste. Can't see the fun in this kind of torture with the recommendation to see a psychologist before they start.

[Stanley]

I have to say I agree Ken and then there's the small matter of dirty water. I speak as a man who has experienced picking a leech up out of 'wild water'! Not something I ever want to do again. (Shades of Humpty Bogart in The African Queen!)
My skinny dipping was done in a heated chlorinated pool in California on Xmas Eve and I'd guess the air temperature was around 80F. That I can live with.

[Big Kev]

This one made my day, Parrots removed from wildlife park after swearing at visitors.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/h ... 1601380717

[Stanley]

Well done the park. They certainly know how to handle PR if not swearing parrots!

[Tizer]

More trouble for Rio Tinto - a mine that closed more than two decades ago but has been poisoning the locals ever since. It makes you wonder how many other disused mines are doing this worldwide. Even Cornwall has such problems with legacy mines...
`Rio Tinto: Mining giant accused of poisoning rivers in Papua New Guinea' LINK

[Stanley]

I thought about you as I watched some Youtube videos of dams breaking on disused mine settlement ponds. Mercury and Cyanide were just two of the nasties mentioned! My mind goes back to THIS 'incident' at Minamata which surfaced in 1956.
Is it a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'?

[Stanley]

It looks as though Peter's worst fears are about to be confirmed. It has been announced that the government regards them as a good way to get people out of their cars and it looks as though they are going to be made legal and regulated.

[Tizer]

I guess you are referring to electric scooters and this news...
`E-scooters should be legalised says Transport Committee' LINK
At least it also says: `Describing riding e-scooters on pavements as "dangerous and anti-social", the committee said the law should "prohibit their use on pavements" and that "robust enforcement measures" would be needed. Further committee recommendations include allowing local authorities to determine the speed of e-scooters and encouraging users to wear helmets. It also said there are "valid environmental concerns" about the processes used to recharge e-scooter batteries and advised the Department for Transport to monitor the environmental impact....
....RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said e-scooters could "transform how many of us get around" but added "the path to introducing them safely is fraught with difficulties". He called for effective regulation and education of riders to ensure "limited road space" could be shared safely by drivers, cyclists and e-scooter riders. And Roger Geffen from Cycling UK said the maximum speed and weight of e-scooters should be reduced before legalisation.'

[Stanley]

Yes Peter, A vital omission! But you are right, that's what I was thinking about. Problem is of course that there are not enough police to keep them off the pavements or, just as dangerous, shooting round large car parks like the one outside the Pioneer Store in Barlick. That's where I have seen them most.
Perhaps we should be making more people walk! Cheaper, good side benefits and not as dangerous. Too many people are wedded to their cars (or should I say 'welded') and they appear to have lost the use of their legs. They park illegally to be close to their destination. These are the ones who complain about lack of parking spaces and congestion. The rest of us just walk the short distances necessary and appear to have very few rights or privileges.
I remember Ivan Illich writing in 'Tools for Conviviality' that pedestrians should have either privileges or compensation for having to wait to cross roads that they had paid for out of their taxes. He wondered what the loss to the world economy was from all this wasted time. Perhaps we should be thinking about that. (And the effects of air pollution as well, not realised then!)

[Tizer]

NASA must be flush with money!
`Nasa Wallops launch: Astronauts to test new $23m toilet at space station' LINK

[Stanley]

Too much detail in that link Peter! It makes you wonder about how the ladies fared before this. Nice to note they have taken account of the design differences.
Recycling urine I understand but faeces? The only way I know is put it back on the land and use it for growing food, perhaps those are the lines they are working on.

[Tizer]

This will become more commonplace, thanks to the climate deniers holding back attempts to moderate climate change...
`Storm Alex: Buildings, roads and bridges destroyed in southern France' LINK
`Video footage has captured the moment a river-side house crumbled into raging flood waters in the French commune of Saint-Martin-Vésubie. Fierce winds and torrential rain from Storm Alex have hit southern France and north-western Italy. Hundreds of aid workers have been sent to help villages cut off because of damaged roads and bridges.'

[Stanley]

Sadly, very true Peter. Our leaders continue to peddle the fiction of 'action before the tipping point'. Can they not see that the evidence suggests we have passed it? I have always believed on acting on 'worst case' scenarios. Now is the time for that because I believe the 'climate crisis' is here now. It is evincing itself first in the great land masses. As a small island we are only seeing the fringes of it. Worryingly, the process appears to be accelerating.

[Tripps]

Increasingly rare, but now and then there is a news item which raises the spirits. Here is one such. Do the Germans have a word for 'schadenfreude' ?

I read that Berlin’s new Brandenburg Airport is to open on 31st October. Unlike most major civil engineering project there will be no opening ceremony, no one cutting a red ribbon, not even a party. The reason being that everyone involved in the project is highly embarrassed because it is just 8 years late and has cost double it’s original estimate. It has been one disaster after another. The original opening ceremony in 2012 was cancelled when it was found that the fire alarms and smoke extraction system didn’t work and 90 kilometres of cables had to be re-wired. Then 4000 doors were wrongly numbered, the escalators were found to be too short, the emergency line to the fire brigade was faulty and the airport roof was twice it’s design weight. When it was found that there were not enough check-in desks the builders suggested using tents in the car park! In 2018 some 650 destination screens had to be replaced because they had been switched on in 2012 and being left on the same set of destinations had burned into the screen. Next, the terminal lights couldn’t be turned off for six months because of a computer fault. 3000 smoke detectors were stolen and hundreds of trees specially planted around the airport had to be cut down because they were the wrong species. And we think that Crossrail has a problem

[Tizer]

...and it opens just in time for a decline in air travel! I love your comment Do the Germans have a word for 'schadenfreude'?

[Stanley]

It wouldn't have happened if Herr Hitler had been running the contract. (Is that in bad taste?)
One benefit of Covid is that Johnson can forget throwing himself in front of the bulldozers when third runway starts somewhere. Not a peep about it now there are no planes to land.

[Big Kev]

US man gets COVID-19 for a second time, and the symptoms are worse BBC News
Closely followed by the Orange Knob announcing he was immune and wanted to kiss everyone BBC News

[Tizer]

`Leicester textile firms 'involved in money laundering'' LINK
`A network of clothing manufacturers in Leicester are involved in money laundering and VAT fraud, a BBC investigation has found. The companies are based in the city's garment district where a local MP said such activity was "endemic". Some of the firms involved have supplied fast fashion brands, including Boohoo....Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, said it was "absolutely endemic in huge swathes of the city". "There are gangs of factory owners going around in brand new four-wheel drives and there are very, very poor exploited workers who are actually living in fear in the city, and you can feel it on the street," he said....Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said the fraudulent activity revealed by the BBC appears to be "the tip of an iceberg" and the sums involved could represent "hundreds of millions of pounds" in lost tax revenue adding: "HMRC have really got to look into this."'

[Tripps]

clothing manufacturers in Leicester are involved in money laundering and VAT fraud,

I'm shocked I tell you

[Stanley]

I saw that report as well Kev. How come people can't see he is a snake oil salesman? (And a jerk!)
Love the link David. Will anything be done? Don't hold your breath!

[Tizer]

I'd thought the danger was from glitter on Christmas cards but perhaps I'm behind the times!...
`Glitter litter 'could be damaging rivers'' LINK

[Stanley]

Nitrates, pesticides, oestrogen, and now glitter. When do we learn?
On a brighter note my eye was caught in that link with the rope bridge for the endangered Gibbons. Simple but effective. I love it.

[Tizer]

Here we go again. Why do women who break into a world dominated by women have to be portrayed as homosexual? Mary Anning is a hero for girls who want to become geologists or scientists and engineers in other areas. It doesn't help to have films that suggest a woman has to be gay to go into those jobs. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mary Anning was gay or even that she had any romantic liaisons; nothing is known other than that she was absolutely dedicated to palaeontology. Could it all be because the film's director is a gay man? I've met one of the film's advisors, Paddy Howe, and I'll bet he didn't know that she was to be portrayed in that fashion.
`Ammonite: Who was the real Mary Anning?' LINK
`A story about a self-taught palaeontologist called Mary Anning has been transformed to the big screen as Ammonite, a depiction of a 19th-century love affair. Francis Lee, who wrote and directed the film starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, readily admits this is not a biopic - and stands by the decision to depict a same-sex love story, despite the fact that Anning's romantic inclinations are lost to history..'.

[plaques]

Spooky. Just started reading a book by Stephen Fry on Greek Mythology. Covers all the Greek gods in a very amusing and compressed way. The Greek gods weren't too fussy who they coupled with.

Ammon
in British English (ˈæmən )
NOUN
mythology
the classical name of the Egyptian god Amen, identified by the Greeks with Zeus and by the Romans with Jupiter