The "And in other news..." thread

[Purple Train]

“The robot broke the child’s finger,” Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the TASS news agency after the incident, adding that the machine had played many previous exhibitions without upset. “This is of course bad.”

To me, that seems like a rather strange way of phrasing it, considering that it doesn't necessarily compute immediately why the robot would break the lad's finger simply because he took his turn too quickly - though, of course, Mr Lazarev may well have mentioned that, and not been fully quoted on it. But to simply say, "It is bad that it did that," nevertheless seems like a pretty strange thing say in the aftermath of an incident causing serious injury.
I also note that the Grauniad missed a pair of commas in their quotation (either side of "of course") - it is good to see that it hasn't lapsed into its previous regrettable phase of being word- and punctuation-perfect.

Is this how the rise of the machines begins...?

 

[yorksrob]

Chess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent

Moscow incident occurred because child ‘violated’ safety rules by taking turn too quickly, says official

www.theguardian.com

Is this how the rise of the machines begins...?

That's why I don't trust these computers !

 

[brad465]

In Spain, every woman is beach body ready:

Every woman's body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign

The government's campaign urges women worried about their bodies to go to the beach.

www.bbc.co.uk

Spain's equality ministry has launched a summer campaign to encourage women worried about their how their body looks to go to the beach.

"Summer is ours too," runs the slogan above an image of five diverse women of different shapes and sizes.
"All bodies are beach bodies," said Social Services Minister Ione Belarra.
Women's Institute head Antonia Morillas said physical expectations affected not only women's self-esteem, but denied them their rights.
The campaign illustration of five women relaxing on the beach also features a topless woman after a mastectomy.
The institute, which is behind the initiative, said it was an attempt to show that all bodies had validity.
Women should enjoy the summer, however, wherever and with whoever they wished, said the ad: "Today we toast a summer for all, without stereotypes and aesthetic violence against our bodies."
But not everyone was impressed by the campaign.
Some wondered if it should be widened to include men without so-called standard bodies, while left-wing leader Cayo Lara said the campaign was the height of absurdity, trying to "create a problem where it doesn't exist".
Junior equality minister Ángela Rodríguez Pam posted a message on Twitter to men who believed women did not need the ministry's permission to go to the beach: "Of course we go, but we're assuming we'll attract hatred for showing a body that isn't standard."

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In Spain, every woman is beach body ready:

Every woman's body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign

The government's campaign urges women worried about their bodies to go to the beach.

www.bbc.co.uk

Easy for Spain to say... they don't have a Greggs on every corner!

 

[341o2]

Due to a hosepipe ban coming into force within a few days, the Daily Echo are advising gardeners to use a water butt to collect rainwater.

3. Invest in a water butt

"With the looming threat of a potential hosepipe ban, now is the time to invest in alternative ways to collect and store water," says Matt Jordan, gardening expert for The Greenhouse People (greenhousepeople.co.uk).

"Water butts [which catch rainwater from your drains] are great for saving water for when your garden needs hydrating later.

Except my garden needs watering now!

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20589016.prepare-garden-potential-drought/

 

[najaB]

Due to a hosepipe ban coming into force within a few days, the Daily Echo are advising gardeners to use a water butt to collect rainwater

Would that be the hosepipe ban due to the lack of rain? Good luck collecting rainwater now!

 

[Lost property]

Apparently, there was a libel case recently between two ladies which was classed as being of interest to the bulk of the UK population.

Nope.

 

[Purple Train]

Apparently, there was a libel case recently between two ladies which was classed as being of interest to the bulk of the UK population.

Nope.

I still have no idea what the vehicle through which they are supposed to be famous is...

 

[najaB]

I still have no idea what the vehicle through which they are supposed to be famous is...

Famous for being famous, I gather.

 

[Lost property]

I still have no idea what the vehicle through which they are supposed to be famous is...

Well there was a shot of a very large and expensive one parked on a pelican crossing, as you do when you are a terribly unimportant person, to allow one of them to disembark....if this helps ?

 

[341o2]

Reminds me of the old one, where someone is asked.
"Can you sing?"
"No",
"Can you dance?"
"No",
"Can you act?"
"No"
"Then what are you doing in show business?"
"I'm a star"

 

[birchesgreen]

Famous for being famous, I gather.

Famous for being married to someone famous.

 

[Purple Train]

Reminds me of the old one, where someone is asked.
"Can you sing?"
"No",
"Can you dance?"
"No",
"Can you act?"
"No"
"Then what are you doing in show business?"
"I'm a star"

If they're that sort then I can see how the pair of them got involved in what (as far as I can tell) was one of the most pointless legal cases known to humankind.

Famous for being married to someone famous.

Is that it? I assumed the would have been famous pre-marriage for so much attention to be lavished upon them. And even the people they're married to are, to paraphrase David Mitchell, famous for having skills that are totally inflated by our culture.
(That said, I do like football. But only the lower levels of the game that aren't populated by over-paid prima donnas such as this Ronaldo figure.)

 

[PG]

Due to a hosepipe ban coming into force within a few days, the Daily Echo are advising gardeners to use a water butt to collect rainwater.

Water butts [which catch rainwater from your drains] are great for saving water for when your garden needs hydrating later.

Except my garden needs watering now!

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20589016.prepare-garden-potential-drought/

I think they mean gutters, which channel the rainwater into your drains!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Due to a hosepipe ban coming into force within a few days, the Daily Echo are advising gardeners to use a water butt to collect rainwater.


Except my garden needs watering now!

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20589016.prepare-garden-potential-drought/

Given the lack of rain at the moment, it's a bit late to invest in a water butt now!

 

[pdeaves]

I think they mean gutters, which channel the rainwater into your drains!

My water butt collects water from the 'drain pipes' (down pipes from the gutters). I suppose using the colloquialism 'drain pipe' makes the article not entirely incorrect.

 

[Ashley Hill]

Tortoise Halts Trains.
From the BBC.
A giant tortoise brought trains to a halt when it was found on a railway track.
The injured animal was spotted near Harling Road, north east of Thetford, Norfolk, on the Cambridge-bound line at about 12:40 BST.
Greater Anglia said three services were affected by the tortoise's presence.
Swallow Aquatics in East Harling said the tortoise, Clyde, had gone missing on Sunday and had now been taken to a vets, as it was hit by a train.

 

[najaB]

Swallow Aquatics in East Harling said the tortoise, Clyde, had gone missing on Sunday and had now been taken to a vets, as it was hit by a train.

Given the speed of some services I've been on lately, are we sure that the train wasn't hit from behind by Clyde?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Apparently Southend United Football Club have scored a bit of a PR own goal by signing a sponsorship deal for their West Stand with an estate agents business called Gilbert & Rose... meaning it was to be called the "Gilbert & Rose West Stand"!

The club now plans to rephrase the name, unsurprisingly. Not sure how they didn't see the obvious issue!

 

[ABB125]

Apparently Southend United Football Club have scored a bit of a PR own goal by signing a sponsorship deal for their West Stand with an estate agents business called Gilbert & Rose... meaning it was to be called the "Gilbert & Rose West Stand"!

The club now plans to rephrase the name, unsurprisingly. Not sure how they didn't see the obvious issue!

Good job the estate agent isn't called "Fred & Rose"...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Good job the estate agent isn't called "Fred & Rose"...

That would be too perfect, nobody would believe it wasn't done on purpose in an attempt to "go viral".

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Apparently Southend United Football Club have scored a bit of a PR own goal by signing a sponsorship deal for their West Stand with an estate agents business called Gilbert & Rose... meaning it was to be called the "Gilbert & Rose West Stand"!

The club now plans to rephrase the name, unsurprisingly. Not sure how they didn't see the obvious issue!

Gilbert and Rose Stand being the most obvious solution, which is perhaps what someone thought when doing the deal.

 

[High Dyke]

In Spain, every woman is beach body ready:

Every woman's body is beach ready, says Spanish government campaign

The government's campaign urges women worried about their bodies to go to the beach.

www.bbc.co.uk

Seemingly the campaign is not without furore, as women complain their pictures were used without permission.

Women whose pictures were used without permission in a "beach body" ad campaign have criticised the Spanish government's explanation that it didn't know they were "real people".

The Spain's Women's Institute campaign uses an image of five diverse women of different shapes and sizes.

But three women have since said they've not consented to images being used.

Sian Green-Lord, whose prosthetic leg was edited out of the image, says she's "not buying it - not at all".

Spanish beach body ad: Women 'not buying' government's explanation

The Spanish government says it didn't know the people used in the campaign were "real people".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Cowley]

I didn’t want to waste a whole thread on this appalling grifter so this seems like a good place to put it.
Looks like reality finally caught up with Alex Jones:

Alex Jones must pay $49.3m for Sandy Hook hoax claim

The parents of a child killed in the attack said they had endured harassment and emotional distress.

www.bbc.co.uk

A jury in Texas ruled the radio host must pay $45.2m in punitive damages, in addition to $4.1m in compensatory damages they awarded a day earlier.
The two-week defamation trial was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack.
Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut.
The lawsuit was filed by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the separated parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the primary school shooting.
The plaintiffs - who said they had endured harassment and emotional distress because of the Infowars founder's misinformation - had sought $150m.

 

[High Dyke]

National Eisteddfod: Mystery of disappearing sign letters

The giant E, F, O and D vanished overnight from the festival site, leaving organisers baffled.

www.bbc.co.uk

Festival-goers at the National Eisteddfod were surprised to see letters from its sign missing on Saturday morning.

 

[Strathclyder]

I didn’t want to waste a whole thread on this appalling grifter so this seems like a good place to put it.
Looks like reality finally caught up with Alex Jones:

Alex Jones must pay $49.3m for Sandy Hook hoax claim

The parents of a child killed in the attack said they had endured harassment and emotional distress.

www.bbc.co.uk

Should take him for everything he and his companies are worth, completely and utterly gut them financially. Then and only then, he'll feel but a fraction of the pain and suffering he inflicted on all those he defamed, slandered and had his deluded followers harrass and threaten, on top of the living nightmare they were already having to contend with.

A disgusting, shameless excuse of a oxygen waster. Hopefully this (and the other forthcoming cases against Jones, I believe there are at least two more) set a precident to deter others of his ilk who spread such BS and expect to get away with it.

 

[Pete_uk]

So do I, so do I.

 

[ABB125]

I thought this was interesting (I can't copy any more of it on my phone, apologies):
BBC News - Climate activists fill golf holes with cement after water ban exemption

Climate activists fill golf holes with cement after water ban exemption

French environmentalists sabotage golf greens to protest against their exemption from water bans.

www.bbc.co.uk

Climate activists in southern France have filled golf course holes with cement to protest against the exemption of golf greens from water bans amid the country's severe drought.

 

[najaB]

I don't agree with how they've gone about it, but they're correct to call out the exemption for watering golf greens. Golf courses are among the highest water users, and many of the operators refuse to implement lower water use policies like using drought-tolerant plants and grasses. It's a big problem in water-scarce but tourism-dependant countries.

 

[ABB125]

I don't agree with how they've gone about it, but they're correct to call out the exemption for watering golf greens. Golf courses are among the highest water users, and many of the operators refuse to implement lower water use policies like using drought-tolerant plants and grasses. It's a big problem in water-scarce but tourism-dependant countries.

Somewhat ironic that environment activists are using cement...