The "And in other news..." thread

[317 forever]

Not sure where to say this and didn't think a new thread was necessary: today seems to be another of those days like the day of the deaths of JFK, C.S Lewis and Aldous Huxley, in this case Alistair Darling, Henry Kissinger and Shane MacGowan have all died on the same day. These could be further overshadowed if the very frail Jimmy Carter goes very soon.

Furthermore, the news of the death of Brookside actor Dean Sullivan (who played Jimmy Corkhill) emerged the same day.

 

[Pete_uk]

A snippet from the BBC News website.
Spot the irony

 

[AlistairCowell]

Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper has returned to hospital 'very serious condition', not looking good at the moment. Just saw that on ITV Evening News.

Also, XL Bully Dogs makes the headlines as it is only two weeks before new rules for XL Bully pet owners comes in to force:

Thousands of XL bully dogs granted
exemption from upcoming ban

News Report Here

 

[Sun Chariot]

So much for the UK's economic turmoil, its political upheaval and its criminal chaos.

No - this weekend, it was really bad on the Isle of Wight

Freshwater Bay: Drivers warned as 50 sheep escape onto road

Police said the flock of sheep were found running around in Military Road, near to Freshwater Bay.

www.google.com

 

[61653 HTAFC]

and 2016 when we lost a whole host of A-listers from David Bowie to Terry Wogan and Carrie Fisher.

I remember people saying that 2016 was a terrible year for celebrity deaths. The thing to remember is that the number of "famous" people rose significantly in the aftermath of World War Two (the rise of things like television and popular music among others), and those people who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s are now getting to the sort of ages when they start dropping... particularly if they lived the "rock and roll lifestyle" in their younger days.

With the rise of internet "celebrities", reality TV, and people who are simply famous for being famous in the last twenty years or so, I suspect that there will be a similar spike in the rate of celebrity deaths in the 2040s to 2050s... that is, assuming anyone remembers who these people are!

 

[AlistairCowell]

I remember people saying that 2016 was a terrible year for celebrity deaths. The thing to remember is that the number of "famous" people rose significantly in the aftermath of World War Two (the rise of things like television and popular music among others), and those people who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s are now getting to the sort of ages when they start dropping... particularly if they lived the "rock and roll lifestyle" in their younger days.

With the rise of internet "celebrities", reality TV, and people who are simply famous for being famous in the last twenty years or so, I suspect that there will be a similar spike in the rate of celebrity deaths in the 2040s to 2050s... that is, assuming anyone remembers who these people are!

Some Rock n' Roll folk died younger like Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson all died even younger in February 1959 in a plane crash, that day became "The Day the Music Died". Also some of the first millennial celebrities have already signed out of a box.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Some Rock n' Roll folk died younger like Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson all died even younger in February 1959 in a plane crash, that day became "The Day the Music Died". Also some of the first millennial celebrities have already signed out of a box.

Sadly premature deaths are a fact of life, though that doesn't refute my point that we are now at a time that those first big names of the "era of celebrities" who didn't die prematurely are now at the age where you'd expect them to start dying off naturally.

This brings to mind the fallacy of average life expectancies: you'll often hear people say things like "I'm in my fifties now, in Roman times (or in a place like Afghanistan) I'd be considered an old person". No you wouldn't- if you survived to adulthood you could expect to live to a decent age (though you'd probably still die sooner than the average modern European due to improvements in medicine and general quality of life). The key reason average lifespans are significantly shorter in less-developed countries (or in pre-industrial times) is the high infant mortality rate in those places/times.

 

[AlistairCowell]

I'm 35.

By the way, top of the headlines is the Iceland volcano, which makes a change to the usual politics and that Israel and Gaza war:

Iceland volcano: Pollution warning for capital after eruption

The eruption, in south-west Iceland, led to half the sky being "lit up in red", an eyewitness says.

www.bbc.com

 

[brad465]

By the way, top of the headlines is the Iceland volcano, which makes a change to the usual politics and that Israel and Gaza war:

Iceland volcano: Pollution warning for capital after eruption

The eruption, in south-west Iceland, led to half the sky being "lit up in red", an eyewitness says.

www.bbc.com

Something to make everyone travelling over Christmas really anxious about.

 

[najaB]

Something to make everyone travelling over Christmas really anxious about.

This one no so much. The likelihood of this causing significant travel disruption is low. The problem in 2010 was the the volcano with the unpronounceable name erupted under a glacier which caused explosive clouds of ash and steam to be thrown high into the stratosphere, where it could cause damage to jet engines. The ash from this eruption is a lot less, and isn't getting thrown nearly as high into the atmosphere. It may cause problems for people travelling to/from Iceland but the probability of a mass shutdown of airspace is very low.

 

[edwin_m]

I'm 35.

By the way, top of the headlines is the Iceland volcano, which makes a change to the usual politics and that Israel and Gaza war:

Iceland volcano: Pollution warning for capital after eruption

The eruption, in south-west Iceland, led to half the sky being "lit up in red", an eyewitness says.

www.bbc.com

Having been bubbling under for some time it's now exploded into the news.

Some years ago I did a feasibility study for a railway roughly following the road from Reykjavik to Keflavik airport, a few miles from the scene. One of the locals pointed out that the lava fields there are 1000 years old, "which means it could be buried at any time".

 

[High Dyke]

BBC News - Watch: Rhinos 'scared' by Christmas pudding present

Watch: Rhinos 'scared' by Christmas pudding present

A giant, decorated enrichment ball left rhinos at the Cotswold Wildlife Park unimpressed.

www.bbc.co.uk

You know that feeling when you buy someone a Christmas gift that you thought they would really like?

In the best-kept tradition of getting an ugly jumper from your auntie, the rhinos were not quite sure and ran off in the opposite direction.

 

[AlistairCowell]

BBC News - Watch: Rhinos 'scared' by Christmas pudding present

Watch: Rhinos 'scared' by Christmas pudding present

A giant, decorated enrichment ball left rhinos at the Cotswold Wildlife Park unimpressed.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's a light hearted one!

 

[Sun Chariot]

More than 700 Airbus staff fell ill after the company's festive dinner.
BBC News reworded their article after they realised the irony of the abbreviation - see the attached shots from BBC News app.

 

[Purple Train]

More than 700 Airbus staff fell ill after the company's festive dinner.
BBC News reworded their article after they realised the irony of the abbreviation - see the attached shots from BBC News app.

Insert joke about aeroplane food here...

 

[Sun Chariot]

Insert joke about aeroplane food here...

True
And comments about mass diarrhoea bouts, being reported to an "ar$e health" agency....

 

[brad465]

Someone trying to remake Home Alone 2:

Unaccompanied boy, 6, put on wrong US flight

Casper was meant to be flying to Fort Myers, Florida, to meet his grandmother but ended up 160 miles away.

www.bbc.co.uk

A six-year-old boy flew alone to the wrong US city after he was "incorrectly boarded" on a Spirit Airlines plane.
Casper was travelling from Philadelphia to meet his grandmother in Fort Myers, Florida.
But he ended up in Orlando - a four-hour drive from Fort Myers - after he was mistakenly put on the wrong plane.
Spirit Airlines has apologised and offered to reimburse his grandmother for the drive to pick Casper up.
Casper was meant to be travelling from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers on Thursday, to meet his grandmother, Maria Ramos.
But in a scene reminiscent of the film Home Alone 2, when Kevin gets on a wrong flight - leaving him stranded far away from his family at Christmas, Casper was put on a plane to Orlando, which is 160 miles (260km) from Fort Myers.
After the plane he was supposed to be on landed and her grandson wasn't on it, panic set in for Ms Ramos.
"I ran inside the plane to the flight attendant and I asked her, 'Where's my grandson? He was handed over to you at Philadelphia?'" Ms Ramos told WINK-TV, a television station in Fort Myers.
She said the flight attendant told her: "No, I had no kids with me."
Fortunately, Casper managed to phone his grandmother soon after he landed in Orlando. Ms Ramos then drove from Fort Myers to pick up her grandson.
"I want them to call me [and] let me know how my grandson ended up in Orlando," Ms Ramos said.
"How did that happen? Did they get him off the plane? He jumped in the wrong plane by himself?"
Spirit Airlines has apologised and said in a statement: "We take the safety and responsibility of transporting all of our guests seriously and are conducting an internal investigation. We apologize to the family for this experience."
Such mishaps are uncommon, but unaccompanied minors as well as other passengers have travelled on wrong flights in the past.
In 2009, two different unaccompanied girls were placed on wrong Continental Airlines flights within the US. The airline blamed "miscommunication among staff".
And in 2019, a boy was put on a United Airlines flight to Germany when he was supposed to be travelling to Sweden.

​

 

[AndyPJG]

Blackpool Tower 'fire' was actually fluttering orange netting​

Firefighters called to an apparent blaze at Blackpool Tower said it was actually orange netting that was seen.
Wtinesses spotted "flames" coming from a metal section near the top of the famous landmark at about 14:15 GMT.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) deployed six fire engines and a "rope rescue" team.
Staff were evacuated from the building but LFRS said a specialist team gained access to the area and confirmed there was no fire.
The Blackpool Tower Eye, the visitor attraction at the very top of the structure, was not open to visitors, according to the tower's website.
In its original statement, LFRS said: "We have 6 fire engines, the drone team and the rope rescue team currently in attendance at a fire on Promenade, Blackpool.
"The drone team are in operation so please do not fly drones in the area."
.....

 

[brad465]

Reminds me of that game at Old Trafford that was called off and rescheduled due to a bomb scare that ended up being a training device leftover from a previous exercise.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Blackpool Tower 'fire' was actually fluttering orange netting​

That will presumably be a huge cake fine for the building company that is doing the renovations...?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The news clip I saw was pretty convincing... whoever supplied the netting should keep their phone on in case any film production companies get in touch!

 

[jon0844]

The news clip I saw was pretty convincing... whoever supplied the netting should keep their phone on in case any film production companies get in touch!

It certainly did look real from some videos I saw!

 

[Trackman]

End of Land's end sign...

'End of an era' as famous signpost at Land's End is replaced

The iconic white post has been marking England's westernmost point for decades but won't be operated in the same way from 2024

www.cornwalllive.com

The iconic white post has been marking England's westernmost point for decades but won't be there from 2024

It's the end of an era as the famous Land's End signpost is set to disappear after 66 years. The iconic white wood signpost has been a staple feature marking the end of Cornwall for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of people including a host of famous faces have posed alongside the iconic landmark since it was first put up in the 1950s. Now the man whose job is manning the post has confirmed it's "the end of an era" for Land's End.

Peter Puddiphatt, who has spent 28 years working beside the post, said that Land's End had opted not to renew its contract with the local company that erected the sign and managed it for all these years. His last day was on Thursday, December 28, and he says it will soon disappear altogether.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

End of Land's end sign...

'End of an era' as famous signpost at Land's End is replaced

The iconic white post has been marking England's westernmost point for decades but won't be operated in the same way from 2024

www.cornwalllive.com

To be fair, the people that run the Land's End visitor centre or whatever it's called are a bunch of shysters anyway. In any case The Lizard is the true extreme point in that part of the country. Nobody would think of going to Land's End if it didn't have the misleading name. Lizard Point is the Southernmost extremity, and the Westernmost point of the mainland is up in Scotland. Land's End is just a tourist trap.

 

[najaB]

In any case The Lizard is the true extreme point in that part of the country. Nobody would think of going to Land's End if it didn't have the misleading name.

In much the same vein, John O'Groats (the "northernmost point") is actually slightly south of Dunnet Head.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

In much the same vein, John O'Groats (the "northernmost point") is actually slightly south of Dunnet Head.

"Dunnet Head to The Lizard" would take a long time to take over in the nation's collective consciousness... but for a North to South journey Lizard Point should be the destination. Land's End is only really relevant for a point-to-point on an East-to-West axis, and even then only if you're limiting it to England alone.

 

[Lost property]

The news clip I saw was pretty convincing... whoever supplied the netting should keep their phone on in case any film production companies get in touch!

Really ?..ok, so it's 500ft high, but, conspicuously missing was....smoke. The two can often be seen together. Plus, before the cavalry arrived, why not send up something called a drone....just for a quick look at the raging inferno.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Really ?..ok, so it's 500ft high, but, conspicuously missing was....smoke. The two can often be seen together. Plus, before the cavalry arrived, why not send up something called a drone....just for a quick look at the raging inferno.

People often say there's no smoke without fire... but there often is. There's also fires with no visible smoke, it depends on what's on fire and on the surrounding conditions.

As for the drone point, isn't that exactly what the fire brigade did, and how they determined that it wasn't an actual fire?

They get a call saying reports of a fire at Blackpool Tower, they're not just going to send out one bloke with a drone to report back to them, because what if it actually was on fire?

 

[JD2168]

The Queen of Denmark has announced she will abdicate on 14th January 2024, exactly 52 years since she came to the throne. Margarethe II will hand the role over to her eldest son who will become Frederik X.

 

[High Dyke]

The Queen of Denmark has announced she will abdicate on 14th January 2024, exactly 52 years since she came to the throne. Margarethe II will hand the role over to her eldest son who will become Frederik X.

Formerly known as Frederik Twitter.