WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Cathy]

Oh Thanks Tripps, thanks all, yes it was a good one

[Stanley]

Many more of them Cathy......
I didn't think you were doubting the starship launch and return David. I am continually boggled by the technology.... Just as amazing is what happened when I logged in this morning and asked for updates. Canonical downloaded and installed 165MB of programming, Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail programme, in less than a minute. I think back to Amstrad days when I had no internet connection and we marvelled at the size of a kb.... I can go back further to when a telephone was a marvel of technology..... So I knew exactly what you meant when you did your Victor Meldrew impression....

Later after listening to the latest news from Gaza..... I have always suspected that there was an element of genocide being deployed against the Palestinians in Gaza and looking at the latest attacks and demands for evacuation of residential areas in the north of the strip I am even more convinced. The IDF appear to attempting to depopulate the North of Gaza completely. Not only are they attacking by air and shelling but they have sealed the area off and are allowing no fuel, food or medicines in. This is quite obviously aimed at total depopulation.
Can someone please correct me if I have this wrong but this looks like genocide to me.
(Possibly seen by some as anti-Semitic. If that is the case I apologise, it is meant to be anti-genocidal!)

[PanBiker]

Has it been Cathy's birthday? Missed that, anyway Happy Birthday, better late than never.

David, we could do with an irony emoji or one for disbelief, although we do have one for surprised.

I received anew video on my phone this morning which shows the landing from a camera on the tower. Amazing what can be done with computer controlled gyro's and retro rockets and I suppose accurate GPS. Maybe they use "what three words" which references down to a 3m2 anywhere on the planet.

Must try and find out how they do that! Wait a bit longer and there will probably be a Haines manual.

[Tizer]

This is quite obviously aimed at total depopulation. Can someone please correct me if I have this wrong but this looks like genocide to me.

Total depopulation of Gaza is exactly what Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich are demanding.

[PanBiker]

They said months ago that they fully intend to "police" the whole of Gaza after the end of hostilities. As they don't recognise the Palestinians right to exist, (heard that before from the Nazi regime?) and do not support a two state solution. Next step after depopulation and exiling any remaining survivors will be to build more kibbutz on the "reclaimed" land. Of course it's genocide, the international courts support that view also.

I cannot understand why Netanyahu wasn't arrested as a war criminal when he attended the recent UN meeting.

[Tripps]

we could do with an irony emoji or one for disbelief,

I recall now that Kev explained that an upside down smile was the usual thing. I managed to get it to work once. Its a bit cumbersome for me, and spoils the flow of things. I'll have to rely on the sharp wittedness of the readers.

Ed note - good luck with that. . . .

[Big Kev]

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[Tripps]

Speaking of the current murderous events in the Middle East - George Galloway reminded us tonight of the names Sabra and Shatila, which I had almost - but not quite forgotten. I was vaguely aware that they were refugee camps. He corrected Piers Morgan, and said there were more deaths there, and in less time, than in Israel on October 7th 2023.

Sabra and Shatila massacre

It's a tough read - almost impossible in parts. It seems to me, to make comments on the current situation seem to be based on ignorance of the enormity of the full background, and ill advised. It will be a long time - if ever- before any order is restored to the area.

[Stanley]

"It will be a long time - if ever- before any order is restored to the area."
I have to agree with that David and a lot of it due to exploitation by 'advanced' Western powers......
I read the Wikipedia article....
In February 1983, an independent commission chaired by Irish diplomat Seán MacBride, assistant to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, concluded that the IDF, as the then occupying power over Sabra and Shatila, bore responsibility for the militia's massacre. The commission also stated that the massacre was a form of genocide. And in February 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission found that Israeli military personnel had failed to take serious steps to stop the killings despite being aware of the militia's actions, and deemed that the IDF was indirectly responsible for the events, and forced erstwhile Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon to resign from his position "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" during the massacre.
The more history one reads, the more convoluted the situation. Human beings seem to have a destructive streak in them and we are all guilty.

[Stanley]

Looking at the reporting of the situation in Gaza the overall picture is of broken Israeli promises and what look like continued pursuit of the 'Generals Plan' so called:- to depopulate Northern Gaza by starvation and demolish all buildings leaving a wasteland. The IDF of course denies this but carries on as it has done since October last year. See THIS report for an example.
At least 22 people have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced families in northern Gaza, local medics and the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency say. The director of a local hospital said children and women were among the casualties from the attack on Abu Hussein Primary School for Boys in Jabalia refugee camp. Video footage showed people carrying a number of casualties and fetching buckets of water in an attempt to put out a blaze inside a tent.
How much longer can this massacre be allowed to go on?
Later, after hearing the news that the HAMAS leader in Gaza has been killed (Almost by accident!) I listened to the comments about the chances of this death being an opportunity to stop the war in Gaza. The general opinion was that the answer is no as Netanyahu realises that as soon as the war ceases his political power ends and he will be called to account.

[Stanley]

In the general weather forecast the prediction that Sunday would be wet and windy was changed to a similar day to today.
However, see THIS separate report elsewhere in the news, a totally different story.
Power cuts, travel disruption and possible damage to buildings are expected this weekend as Storm Ashley sweeps across Scotland, bringing high winds and rain. The Met Office has issued an amber high wind warning for some western areas on Sunday, with gusts of 70-80 mph (113-129km/h) expected. A yellow alert for high winds gusting up to 60 mph (97km/h) covers the whole of the country, and for northern areas will last over the rush hour on Monday. Meteorologists say Storm Ashley, the first named storm of the season, will see a rapid drop of pressure as it moves in from the Atlantic on Saturday night - a phenomenon called a "weather bomb".
I am reminded of the Taunton 'hurricane' highlighted by Peter. Is the Met Office losing its grip?

[Tizer]

Pigeons are a pest where we live but I'm glad we don't have any like the one show in the pics below!
`The Moon, twins and tributes to Liam: Photos of the week' BBC

[Stanley]

That image of the young fans mourning Liam Payne disturbs me Peter.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on North Korean troop movements and allow yourself a bit of a worry!

Later at 06:00. One for Peter. The mining firm that owned the dam in Brazil that collapsed in 2015 are in court in London being sued by victims.

On this day in 1966 the spoil heaps at Aberfan collapsed and swamped the village school with mud. 116 children and 5 teachers were killed.

[Tizer]

Zelensky had pointed out that North Korean troops were already in Russia and being trained to work with Russian troops. Chinese troops have been in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad since early this year. It's between Poland and Lithuania. So we'll soon have both Chinese and North Korean troops in Europe and, in the case of Chinese already embedded within the EU area.

[Stanley]

Why do I keep on expecting to hear Putin saying that the areas of Ukraine he is attacking are his final territorial demand?

[Stanley]

THIS BBC article asks a good question.
"Trump has the world’s richest man on his side. What does Musk want?"

[Tizer]

Oh no, another nail in Boeing's coffin - remember how I wrote the other day that they were failing fast?
`Boeing-made satellite breaks up in space' LINK
Note: An alert on the platform said the US Space Forces also said it is "currently tracking around 20 associated pieces" of the satellite. So that's 19 more dangerous obstacles out there.

[Stanley]

One place where they will not be in mourning is I suspect at Airbus.....
Have you seen the reports about the A380 being brought back into service by airlines who had mothballed it?
Later at 05:40. News come in that Boeing workers have rejected the latest wage offer and are continuing their strike. This will only add to their woes....

[Stanley]

If you want a different scale and depth of reporting, go to the World Service. I listen to it every morning as it drives R4 until 05:20. Examples this morning are an investigation in depth into the Catholic Opus Dei organisation and an in depth report of the IDF bombing of a school in Gaza by Jeremy Bowen.
Neither of these will be heard on mainstream BBC R4.

[Tizer]

Likewise, the World Service `Science in Action' programme presented by Roland Pease is much better than Radio 4's `Inside Science'.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

The fact that the actual adjustment of the time this morning reached my bedside radio at 02:14. I happened to see it happen and rolled over for another hour.....

[PanBiker]

I only have 3 "dumb" clocks, microwave, cooker and kitchen clock. Everything else tweaked itself. Dab Radio alarm, satellite box and my smart watch altered itself after syncing with it's app on my mobile after I switched it on. Computer and mobiles automatic of course.

OG Site system time has flipped as well.

[Big Kev]

I stopped the granddaughter clock for an hour, it doesn't like being adjusted backwards

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