The observation and asides thread

[magentaflame]

Well that was a hell of a morning in Traralgon. I'm exhausted. And more bad weather to come as well. that sucks.

[spot]

It looks very wet on the news channels. At least it's not fire this time. And if the wind has stopped, that's good too.

Lots to clear up though. Seven inches of rain overnight isn't going to just soak away. I like the understated tone of Victorian SES commander Jackson Bell - "it will be days to come in the clean up that’s for sure".

https://thenewdaily.com.au/weather/2021 ... eek-flood/

And "Authorities warned the floodwater is 'toxic' and urged people never to play or swim in floodwater" - is that down to mining, or is it just general?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaki ... 1623307752

[magentaflame]

It looks very wet on the news channels. At least it's not fire this time. And if the wind has stopped, that's good too.

Lots to clear up though. Seven inches of rain overnight isn't going to just soak away. I like the understated tone of Victorian SES commander Jackson Bell - "it will be days to come in the clean up that’s for sure".

https://thenewdaily.com.au/weather/2021 ... eek-flood/

And "Authorities warned the floodwater is 'toxic' and urged people never to play or swim in floodwater" - is that down to mining, or is it just general?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaki ... 1623307752

Well my car is a right off. Good old Holdens though. IT STARTED and the towy drove it out from the underground car park. He said it's definitely water logged.
this is interesting .....I rang my insurance company and had to explain to a philippino what a "Doona " was. I guess they don't have much call for them in the tropics. And what's a Cigar box guitar? He ended up putting down "musical instrument". lol

https://thewest.com.au/news/natural-dis ... 881897202z

My workplace backs onto Traralgon Creek. At 0641 I took a pic of the water to it's full capacity decided we should put bollards up to stop people coming into the carpark area. I'd moved my car into the underground carpark (higher ground) ...At 0719 the place was under water. I had to rescue one of the workers from her car. She'd driven into the carpark and was hit by a wall of water. Not sure how long it's going to take for my boots to dry out. ...but what's really scary is I had to move a homeless guy only minutes before the creek broke it's banks. Thank god he wasn't asleep. I even gave him time to finish his breakfast. I don't normally move displaced people on but he was trying to get out of the rain and set up camp in one of the parking spots. I thought he might get squished by a car. He was walking away just as the creek broke it's banks. He was originally camped under the bridge.
I've never seen floods that quick before. It' was literally seconds.

No not mining Spot I think it's just the nature of floods. Picks up a lot of shit and if that goes into the catchments it's a bit of a soup. That's how I've always understood it.

[magentaflame]

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

I don't know the rest of the poem by heart. But most children know this bit from primary school. it's quite a beautiful poem, and so apt most days.
Did you know that the Avon River is only surpassed by the Amazon in flooding capacity? I learnt that today. Those guys are in for it tonight /tomorrow. Sale is about to cop it . Good luck fellas.

[spot]

G bloody 7
Not going anywhere far from home for the duration of this event, everywhere is crawling with police, is it over yet.

https://unherd.com/2021/06/the-prostitu ... X6S4iQDM0A

I was overtaken near Redruth by five police motorbikes riding in formation like a display team doing 70mph in the fast lane. There's only two lanes along that bit so they were pretty close to each other. The boy practically applauded, it certainly got his attention.

[magentaflame]

G7 leaders sit awkwardly as ‘media circus’ pushed out of meeting room
World leaders attending the G7 summmit in Cornwall were forced to deal with an awkward moment on Friday, as members of the media were ushered out of the meeting room ahead of talks. Addressing the media, prime minister Boris Johnson said: “This is meant to be a fireside chat ... it’s turned into a gigantic media circus in which we have to greet each other several times.”

US president Joe Biden and German chancellor Angela Merkel are among those attending the event, which will see discussions take place on issues such as climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

not sure that's a good idea under the global circumstances.

but it brings my mind back to the Chasers....

Spot you could have stunted this.

[Betty Boop]

G7 leaders sit awkwardly as ‘media circus’ pushed out of meeting room
World leaders attending the G7 summmit in Cornwall were forced to deal with an awkward moment on Friday, as members of the media were ushered out of the meeting room ahead of talks. Addressing the media, prime minister Boris Johnson said: “This is meant to be a fireside chat ... it’s turned into a gigantic media circus in which we have to greet each other several times.”

US president Joe Biden and German chancellor Angela Merkel are among those attending the event, which will see discussions take place on issues such as climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

not sure that's a good idea under the global circumstances.

but it brings my mind back to the Chasers....

Spot you could have stunted this.

It was never a good idea pandemic or not. Would make an amazing comedy plot, no one would believe it.

G7 meeting to discuss climate change sees all members attending arrive in their own personal planes. Each person then driven to the venue with motorbike escorts several 4 x 4's or vans besides the one the member is in. Each trip out and about is carried out in the same way. 6ft fences all around peoples homes in Carbis Bay. The trains to St. Ives are all cancelled, the buses are reduced and the schools were shut. Traffic back logged to Hayle causing chaos on the main road out of this area - there is only one! And we were told it wouldn't impact local life just another Boris lie.
Shall we house the police security in the next nearest town, or somewhere nearby? No... lets put them in Falmouth on a cruise ship. That's an hour each way on a good day, can only guess how long each way takes with all the security checks and queues of traffic.
Don't forget we have only just re opened for holidays too so Cornwall is choc a block full of holiday makers driving round aimlessly already who then suddenly realise it's nigh on impossible to visit that lovely quaint St Ives.
Last day of the actual summit today, but restrictions have been in place for a quite a while now and we are warned it will take a while to dismantle.
Meanwhile 9 businesses in St Ives are closed due to covid outbreak along with 12 businesses closed in Falmouth.

The icing on the cake for me is, lets meet to talk about the climate, oooooh then lets have the red arrows come and do a display for us -what idiot thought that a good idea. With the locals being told do not travel to carbis bay to watch the red arrows you lot need to be social distancing, no gathering in crowds.

The Queen and her family at least had the sense to arrive in Cornwall by train. So could have this lot, the branch line was closed they could have made use of that to get people to and from the venue from Newquay, from Truro or even from London.

[magentaflame]

I binged watched "The Windsors" yesterday........what he hell did I just put into my brain? I understand satire but that was over the top.

[spot]

I note that the England soccer team secured its place in the record book by finally winning the opening game of the UEFA European Football Championship.

The contest was first played in 1960 when the Soviet Union won the tournament.

A careful study of the statistics shows that the England team have never actually won the tournament, or even appeared in the final, but we did win the opening game this time around against some provincial Ustaše knockabouts. The tabloids will be in Thatcherite Rejoice mode for the rest of the week, being historically mistrustful of Catholic nationalists.

[spot]

Twelve months it's taken them to get round to bringing these two prats into court. Perhaps someone retired and a replacement officer knew how to use the computer.

And the selfish antisocial gits are out in force this weekend again. Same place, same people, same disruption. All the council says is oh soz, we couldn't get an injunction because of the virus. Nonsense, mister councillor, that's as idle inept an excuse as anyone ever came up with.

Steph Ansell, co-organiser of the event, disagrees with Cllr Taylor, arguing the car enthusiast community shouldn’t be “tarnished with the same brush”.

In a joint statement with Herts Car Society’s co-owner, Ty Dell, they said: “What happened last year at the Cruise-Herts meet was completely devastating.

“I witnessed it myself and would never want anything like that happening again. That being said, it was a freak, terrible accident caused by two people out of thousands.”

https://www.thecomet.net/news/stevenage ... -1-6740261

No Steph, it wasn't a freak, terrible accident caused by two people out of thousands. Go and look at the photos of the skid marks in the car park. Every meet you ever had ends up covered in skid marks like those, local residents have to suffer through it time after time, and that's the direct collective fault of the organizers. Do you know why I'm harping on? I have tinnitus and I'm constantly having to cover my ears with my hands when your blasted "car enthusiasts" drive up the main street, foot down, minimal muffling and filthy thousand-watt rap echoing off the shop-fronts. I have no idea why noise emissions aren't a standard part of the MOT, none of you should be on the road in the first place.

And the council has, finally, reacted.

The future of car cruises in Stevenage will be decided at High Court later this month, as the council has applied for an injunction that would ban car cruising in the town.

Although certain hotspots have been used for car meets in the past, including Roaring Meg car park, Fairlands Valley and Monkswood Way, the injunction will seek to ban car meets in the entire district of Stevenage.

Steph Ansell, co-founder of Herts Car Society, believes this is another example of the car enthusiast community being “tarnished with the same brush”.

And not before time either.

When was the last time the Herts Car Society had an event and didn't leave skid marks at the venue? Try to be honest, Steph. Your idealized picture of an event is not reality and you know it.

The interim injunction now has a two year extension. That's a start.

The future of illegal “car cruising” in Stevenage has taken a further hit, as a court extended its ban in the town for at least two more years.

Following a hearing on Monday, December 7, Luton County Court made the decision to extend the injunction against participating in a car cruise – namely to be a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle.

https://www.thecomet.net/news/luton-cou ... -1-6956877

And, finally, sentencing. Five years in jail for one of the wantons, and four years for the other. For some reason they haven't been banned from driving for life, I believe they ought to have been.

The council now have an injunction in place that will provide police with powers to prevent the kind of activity that caused the accident and we are working with them to enforce this legislation.

https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/monkswoo ... ve-8052950

Perhaps next time they could charge the organizers and other participants too.

This injunction banning these bring-your-own car display events should be national and permanent, not regional and temporary.

[magentaflame]

I've had a crap few days. Colleague at work is driving me insane ( I had to leave early today because ....well lets just say I know how to hold my temper. (I know how he's doing it, I know what he's doing, I know why he's doing it...but I can't do a damn thing about it. ) And if you were to look at him he's be there sitting with a smile on his face pretending he knows nothing about it...angelic almost. Could explain away everything.....FUC where were you on the camera footage on Thursday????????????????????????????????? why do you keep all the information WE need to know for your yourself? why do people seem to think you're the boss of this site when there is a perfectly good worker with more experience and knowledge to you????? and surpasses your short time in the position?????......why is nobody seeing this? I don't understand. Site orders! KPI's! standing orders ....all out of the window...because they are apparently stupid.....................okie dokie. You're a 'germ' and that word doesn't get bandied around lightly.

I've had to say goodbye to my son AGAIN...he's off to New Zealand FIFO work. And yes I have the big old stag hound cross pointer "Max" again. Just cleaned out my bank account for him to get all his checks and balances correct and to hurry up his passport. visa etc.

A bloke came into work today and asked if I'd seen my car....no matter, he took some footage of it for me. I asked " do I really want to see what happened to old Bazza?" He hadn't filmed inside...I don't want to see that. It's like a viewing at a funeral...NO THANKS.



( Bazza = barry = Barina Holden.
and my guitar.

I'm done for today.

[spot]

I've occasionally worked on sites where people play mind games like that. Some have been visibly distressed if they're laughed at. And definitely keep a list of rule infractions for when it all blows up, if it's in writing it happened. As for who people go to, if you're the most useful contact you'll get the trade.

There's a busker locally who makes cigar box guitars and plays them well enough to put out a couple of CDs each year. Do you make your own, of should I ask if he has one he's done with?

[spot]

I'm done for today.

You haven't mentioned this yet...

Video: Webs blanket southern Australia as spiders swarm to safety from floods
Thousands of spiders and their webs have blanketed bushland in Australia's state of Victoria, after heavy rain and flooding hit the region.

The spiders moved to higher ground to escape the saturated ground, local media reported, spinning giant cobwebs in order to shelter themselves from the damp.

https://metro.co.uk/video/webs-blanket- ... s-2441459/

[spot]

Ho ho very satirical...

Intrepid Change.org user launches petition to make Jeff Bezos' space trip one-way

https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/ ... eading-top

Go on, it is actually pretty funny.

As is the strange nearby story that NASA might put the ISS onto Airbnb for a two week break.

And China is sending its first construction team up to its new space station tomorrow-Thursday. And there's a Slackware 15 beta out at the moment.

[magentaflame]

I'm done for today.

You haven't mentioned this yet...

Video: Webs blanket southern Australia as spiders swarm to safety from floods
Thousands of spiders and their webs have blanketed bushland in Australia's state of Victoria, after heavy rain and flooding hit the region.

The spiders moved to higher ground to escape the saturated ground, local media reported, spinning giant cobwebs in order to shelter themselves from the damp.

https://metro.co.uk/video/webs-blanket- ... s-2441459/

yeah isn't it pretty. It's created a tourist attraction. ..nice eh? I'ts like spiders saying ...screw you silkworms

[spot]

Joanne Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, called on the committee to defer any decision for 12 months and said deletion would be "hugely unfair".

"We need [committee members] to see Bramley Moore Dock with their own eyes - physically or virtually," she said.

Ms Anderson said to strip the city of its World Heritage status would be a "missed opportunity in demonstrating to the world that heritage and regeneration are not mutually exclusive".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... e-57556884

Well there you are then. A pretty simple answer, Ms Anderson. World Heritage and regeneration are obviously mutually exclusive, what do you think the word Heritage means. You had it, you defaced it and now it's gone. Perhaps Liverpool will be a lesson to other custodians in future.

Have a look at M-Shed in Bristol harbour and think about why the original building was retained.

How does the constant traffic of a ninety thousand seat football stadium fit with a heritage site, for god's sake. Two years back "Liverpool City Council said it could preserve the area's character while carrying out regeneration"? How about not filling in the docks instead, they weren't just history, they were your asset.

[Betty Boop]

Seen on facebook...

People wanted for planting in the fields for 6 weeks, start asap. Good rates of pay, own transport needed.

will they double in size??

[magentaflame]

Seen on facebook...

People wanted for planting in the fields for 6 weeks, start asap. Good rates of pay, own transport needed.

will they double in size??

I like that ...that's a goody. Serial killer?

[spot]

You need to be ancient to blink at this link on the BBC news website, but I definitely blinked.

bw1.png (8.94 KiB) Viewed 3933 times

(This is what they didn't refer to)


Black Widow reunited in 2007 after a 34-year hiatus and are touting a new studio album, the gleefully preposterous Sleeping with Demons. They remain very much the godfathers of occult rock, and their anthem Come to the Sabbat is the only song from that first era that had any discernible impact on the rock mainstream. Their supremely cheerful frontman Clive Jones is happy to admit to his own spiritualist beliefs and fascination with witchcraft, but also concedes that Black Widow abandoned the path of darkness fairly quickly after their 1970 debut seemed to cast its own shadow of negativity over their ambitions.

"After Sacrifice we had to change direction and I didn't want to do that, but we'd had lots of bad luck," he recalls. "We were banned by the BBC and they wouldn't play the records. We were going to tour in America but Charles Manson did what they called his 'black magic murders' and suddenly we weren't allowed in. Our management looked after Black Sabbath at the time, too, and sent them in our place. Now we're back to the black magic, but this time we wanted to show that black magic can be fun. It's not all worshipping the devil and sacrificing sheep."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/ ... idow-ghost

[magentaflame]

I just had one of those "teacher /mum" moments. I just said to my taxi driver... " luv ya bye"..............WTF?

[cars]

I just had one of those "teacher /mum" moments. I just said to my taxi driver... " luv ya bye"..............WTF?

Did the taxi driver reciprocate?

[magentaflame]

I just had one of those "teacher /mum" moments. I just said to my taxi driver... " luv ya bye"..............WTF?

Did the taxi driver reciprocate?

Not even sure if he heard me....its just the fact that i knew id said it. Lol

[Bryn Mawr]

You need to be ancient to blink at this link on the BBC news website, but I definitely blinked.


bw1.png

(This is what they didn't refer to)


Black Widow reunited in 2007 after a 34-year hiatus and are touting a new studio album, the gleefully preposterous Sleeping with Demons. They remain very much the godfathers of occult rock, and their anthem Come to the Sabbat is the only song from that first era that had any discernible impact on the rock mainstream. Their supremely cheerful frontman Clive Jones is happy to admit to his own spiritualist beliefs and fascination with witchcraft, but also concedes that Black Widow abandoned the path of darkness fairly quickly after their 1970 debut seemed to cast its own shadow of negativity over their ambitions.

"After Sacrifice we had to change direction and I didn't want to do that, but we'd had lots of bad luck," he recalls. "We were banned by the BBC and they wouldn't play the records. We were going to tour in America but Charles Manson did what they called his 'black magic murders' and suddenly we weren't allowed in. Our management looked after Black Sabbath at the time, too, and sent them in our place. Now we're back to the black magic, but this time we wanted to show that black magic can be fun. It's not all worshipping the devil and sacrificing sheep."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/ ... idow-ghost

Wow, they lived just round the corner.

First album was excellent but nothing after that.

[magentaflame]

ASH BARTY!!!! YOU GO GIRL!
"Take us through that last point"........
"I don't remember it"

She's so cute.

[Bryn Mawr]

ASH BARTY!!!! YOU GO GIRL!
"Take us through that last point"........
"I don't remember it"

She's so cute.

Excellent match, she played well.

[magentaflame]

Next time someone complains about the 5th lockdown.




Toughen up princess
Grow another leg
get your act together
'cause the problems in your head.
Suck it up
Pull your weight
Tell someone who cares
Pull your your bloody finger out
Because life is never fair

[magentaflame]

Some woman called katie hopkins? How to become the most hated woman on Australian soil. Bloody hell! Deport her immediately!

[spot]

Some woman called katie hopkins? How to become the most hated woman on Australian soil. Bloody hell! Deport her immediately!

She's practiced at it. It's her superpower. If you've ever heard of Piers Morgan or late-onset Christopher Hitchens, they're three of a kind. All three fall into the same famous for being famous category as Donald Trump.



eta: here we are, I've seen the report. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57883692


She's easy enough to ignore in England. Words associated with her are "professional troll" and "pantomime villain". What else can I see... "reality TV's very own Adolf Hitler", lifetime Twitter ban, all sorts.

From 2015: "A petition calling on the Government to 'swap' Katie Hopkins for 50,000 refugees from Syria has won 10,000 backers in 24 hours. The petition was launched two days ago on Change.org but has rapidly picked up signatures over the past few hours."

And https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/ ... libel-case

So. She has to be vile to keep her name in front of an appalled public, because it's how she makes her living. She doesn't seem to be very good at that bit.

[spot]

How does the constant traffic of a ninety thousand seat football stadium fit with a heritage site, for god's sake. Two years back "Liverpool City Council said it could preserve the area's character while carrying out regeneration"? How about not filling in the docks instead, they weren't just history, they were your asset.

Well, there it went, they had the meeting at UNESCO and Liverpool has been delisted.

The UN agency said development such as Liverpool Waters, a £5.5bn project by Peel Group to transform previously disused land, had led to a “serious deterioration and irreversible loss” to the area’s outstanding universal value along with “significant loss to its authenticity and integrity”.

It said that as a result of these projects the waterfront had “deteriorated to the extent that it has lost characteristics” that led to its inclusion on the world heritage list in 2004.

The proposal to build Everton’s new riverside football stadium at Bramley-Moore dock would “add to the ascertained threat of further deterioration and loss” of its historic value.

The decision was met with dismay by Liverpool city leaders. Joanne Anderson, the city mayor, said she was “hugely disappointed and concerned” and that the council would consider lodging an appeal.

She said it had been a decade since Unesco last visited the city “to see it with their own eyes” and it was “incomprehensible” that Unesco would rather see Bramley-Moore dock as a “derelict wasteland” than as a gleaming new football stadium that would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.

She added: “Our world heritage site has never been in better condition having benefited from hundreds of millions of pounds of investment across dozens of listed buildings and the public realm.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... age-status

How anyone so clueless can become city mayor is one of the underlying tragedies. Nobody wants to "see Bramley-Moore dock as a 'derelict wasteland'", making it a civic amenity is clearly a good idea but "a gleaming new football stadium that would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors" planted in the heart of one of the most important industrial history sites in Europe? That's not a plan, that's massive deliberate uncaring cultural vandalism on the part of Liverpool as a whole. It puts Liverpool alongside Alaric, Genghis and Attila in the public imagination across the next millennium. I propose the city crest should henceforth incorporate a football mob carrying wrecking balls.

[magentaflame]

Sitting at work (nightshift) binging on a British period drama called " Berkeley". "bout Nannys and such.

[magentaflame]

Some woman called katie hopkins? How to become the most hated woman on Australian soil. Bloody hell! Deport her immediately!

She's practiced at it. It's her superpower. If you've ever heard of Piers Morgan or late-onset Christopher Hitchens, they're three of a kind. All three fall into the same famous for being famous category as Donald Trump.



eta: here we are, I've seen the report. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-57883692


She's easy enough to ignore in England. Words associated with her are "professional troll" and "pantomime villain". What else can I see... "reality TV's very own Adolf Hitler", lifetime Twitter ban, all sorts.

From 2015: "A petition calling on the Government to 'swap' Katie Hopkins for 50,000 refugees from Syria has won 10,000 backers in 24 hours. The petition was launched two days ago on Change.org but has rapidly picked up signatures over the past few hours."

And https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/ ... libel-case

So. She has to be vile to keep her name in front of an appalled public, because it's how she makes her living. She doesn't seem to be very good at that bit.

Ahh yes ....Morgan and Hitchens. They do like to argue don't they? This Katie woman though....Vulgar I thought. Well if that's how she stays in the media I shall not talk nought about her again.

[spot]

I propose the city crest should henceforth incorporate a football mob carrying wrecking balls.

Here, by contrast, is the way heritage ought to be done.

Wales' slate landscape wins World Heritage status

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57986167

Do you know what they've got there, Liverpool? The Welsh? They've got heaps and heaps of slate spoil, and quarries, and narrow-gauge rail, and deep mines with a few skilled volunteers dressing slates using two hundred year old equipment.

What they do not have is a brand new bloody football stadium laid over their inheritance.

I'm delighted Wales' slate landscape has won World Heritage status. As for Liverpool's local government not understanding what just happened and feeling hard done by, perhaps someone will write a book about it eventually. And maybe both of Liverpool's football teams will end up relegated too.

[spot]

Guardian headline: "Jared Kushner set to move away from politics and launch investment firm"



What!!!?

Jared "Trust me with your savings" Kushner?

People will buy that?

[magentaflame]

So you get both doses of the vaccine and you can still spread it, get sick and die...........I really didn't need to hear that.

[spot]

So you get both doses of the vaccine and you can still spread it, get sick and die...........I really didn't need to hear that.

That's the case for every vaccine ever developed.

Discussion of Covid vaccines has started to use weasel-words. Instead of protection against infection, some graphs are now starting to show protection against symptomatic Covid. It makes things harder to compare.

The other difficulty is that comparisons are being made of numbers of cases instead of rates of cases. That also confuses the picture.

In England this month we have the largest number of Covid-infectious people that we've ever had. It's varied this month between 1 in 75 and 1 in 80 of the population. Have a look at Figure 4 "infection rate by age" at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulation ... lot/latest

That's 20 infected per thousand primary school pupils, 3 infected per thousand pensioners. Primary children here are six times more likely to be infected than their granny.

So, has the vaccine protected granny? Or is she just self-isolating better than the child, or more sensible where she goes partying, or better at social distancing? I don't think anyone can tell.

What's clear is that because of the vaccine take-up, only 1 person is dying at the moment for every 10 this time last year even though as many people are infected. That's partly better nursing practice but mostly the vaccine.

It looks like three quarters of the infected are asymptomatic if they've been fully vaccinated, but they're still just as much spreaders as the ones with symptoms.

It looks as though around 1 in 500 infected this month will die of Covid, which is around 100 new deaths every day from 50,000 new infections every day, and that most of the dead will not have been fully vaccinated by reason of hesitancy. That sounds to me like full vaccination in the UK is giving roughly a 95% protection against death compared with your outcome if you're unvaccinated, which is wonderful.

It's a lot better than last year's statistics. The vaccine has helped achieve that. Last year having an infection in the UK was a lot more lethal. It's hard to say how much more because fewer asymptomatic infections were recorded, but back then in the UK 2% of recorded infected people died and now it's 0.2%.

[LarsMac]

So you get both doses of the vaccine and you can still spread it, get sick and die...........I really didn't need to hear that.

Well, yes, you can still be exposed to the thing by infected people.
While the bug is in your sinus cavities and Mucus membranes, you can still expose other people to it.
The vax can't protect you from that part.
But the Vax boosts you immune system so that most of the time, when you are exposed, the symptoms you will experience will be much milder, and the bug will be killed off before it become dangerous to your system. During the time you are fighting it off, you could expose other people, so stay home.

IF you are vaxxed, the chances of dying are marginal.
They still exist, but they are rare.

[spot]

Paul “Pen” Farthing, who founded an animal shelter in Kabul, has made it through the airport’s security and is awaiting a flight out of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

The former Royal Marine and his supporters had been campaigning to get his staff from the Nowzad charity shelter as well as their families, 140 dogs and 60 cats evacuated from the country in a plan he named Operation Ark.

In a tweet posted on Friday evening, the MoD said: “Pen Farthing and his pets were assisted through the system at Kabul airport by the UK armed forces. They are currently being supported while he awaits transportation.”

It added: “On the direction of the defence secretary, clearance for their charter flight has been sponsored by the UK government.”

The MoD did not mention the situation regarding Nowzad staff and their families.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... evacuation

Did I not reed elsewhere that Mr Farthing would refuse to leave Afghanistan without his staff?

It will be interesting to see whether, if he did, he nonetheless has.

His charity raised, at his last set of accounts, around £1,000,000 for the year. He and his wife together were paid over £70,000 plus expenses for the year. Over the lifetime of the charity they have taken in an average of two cat-or-dogs (or "pets", as the MoD disparagingly refers to them) a week but there's no indication of how many of those were re-homed or died in custody.

Clearly a life well lived.

[spot]

Did I not reed elsewhere that Mr Farthing would refuse to leave Afghanistan without his staff?

It will be interesting to see whether, if he did, he nonetheless has.

The founder of an animal shelter in Afghanistan is "safe" after leaving the country, his charity has said.

Paul "Pen" Farthing was attempting to get his staff and rescue animals out of Kabul when they became caught up in Thursday's airport bomb blasts.

Mr Farthing's charity Nowzad confirmed he and his animals left the country on Saturday without his staff.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-58370218

I have no comment at all. I do not even want to know of the existence of Nowzad. Nowzad is a populist tabloid concept, it is a barrier to a better world along with the rest of the Honk for Heroes industry.

[spot]

Did I not reed elsewhere that Mr Farthing would refuse to leave Afghanistan without his staff?

More information appears in today's Guardian:

In the recorded message, reportedly sent on Monday, Farthing threatened to “destroy” Quentin on social media if he did not help arrange the evacuation.

He said: “I just found out that is you blocking me getting this flight out of Afghanistan for my staff and the animals. So here’s the deal buddy. You either get me that fucking Isaf number and you get me permission to get on to that fucking airfield, or tomorrow morning I’m going to turn on you and the whole fucking country, and everybody else who’s invested in this rescue, is going to know it’s you, you, blocking this fucking move. Alright?”

He continued: “I will get my staff out of here and I’ll get so many other people out of here on this flight and then the dogs and cats are going in the cargo hold. Nobody can sit in the cargo hold, only the animals.”

Farthing demanded paperwork saying his staff had been “approved”, otherwise he was “going to spend the rest of my time fucking destroying you on social media and every other fucking platform I can find.”

He said he had served for 22 years in the Royal Marines and he was “not taking this bollocks from people like you who are blocking me”.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... evacuation

It makes one proud to be British, moments like these. With diplomatic skills of that order one wonders how the Taliban reached Kabul in the first place.

But speaking to LBC on Saturday, Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said: "The difficulty is getting people into and out of the airport and we've just used a lot of troops to bring in 200 dogs, meanwhile my interpreter's family are likely to be killed.

"As one interpreter asked me a few days ago 'why is my five-year-old worth less than your dog?'," the Conservative MP added.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-58370218

[spot]

It makes one proud to be British, moments like these. With diplomatic skills of that order one wonders how the Taliban reached Kabul in the first place.

And indeed even the potty-mouthed ex-marine has felt obliged to step back from his language, if not his threats, once he reached London and ITV's chat outlet. This is no doubt phase one of "going to spend the rest of my time fucking destroying you on social media and every other fucking platform I can find", with ITV lining up to be first. I've no idea what ITV charges to let people onto their social media chatshow but I bet it's less than Graham Norton.

If I may quote from my bookshelf, Hartley's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness observes that "no remark can be too absurd for an unbridled tongue", while "To really merit the name of a polite, finished gentleman, you must be polite at all times and under all circumstances".

On Monday, Farthing told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I’m incredibly embarrassed about my language, I do apologise to everybody who’s listened to that. I was at the lowest point I could possibly be. I understand how the world works but emotions got the better of me, so for all those who had to listen to that I do apologise for my language.

“I should not have said it like that, but the sentiment, yes, I was just incredibly upset, angry, frustrated, it was the lowest point. I had no other option, I didn’t know what else to do.”

Farthing’s Operation Ark campaign attracted attention on social media but Wallace complained it was distracting from the focus on evacuating the most vulnerable out of Afghanistan.

Wallace previously said Ministry of Defence staff had faced abuse from Farthing’s supporters.

[...] Farthing added he was the only person on the flight but he was told there was “enough capacity” to get the remaining people in the airport out.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... evacuation

"I will get my staff out of here and I’ll get so many other people out of here on this flight" doesn't quite line up with being the sole passenger on his privately-chartered jet either. I really ought to go and find where he was reported as saying he'd refuse to leave Afghanistan without his staff.

Do all these media appearance fees go into his charity coffers or are they personal perks? Will any interviewer ask him?

[spot]

Did I not reed elsewhere that Mr Farthing would refuse to leave Afghanistan without his staff?

For completeness, since I had no link at the time:

He said he wanted them and their direct family members evacuated with him and accepted as refugees in the UK.

"My staff don't deserve the fate that awaits them if they stay here in Afghanistan," Farthing told Reuters in an interview from Kabul.

"I had an opportunity, the fact that I am a British citizen, I'm going to use that to full effect - so I've said I'm not going until my staff leave this country," he continued.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 021-08-20/

[magentaflame]

It looks very wet on the news channels. At least it's not fire this time. And if the wind has stopped, that's good too.

Lots to clear up though. Seven inches of rain overnight isn't going to just soak away. I like the understated tone of Victorian SES commander Jackson Bell - "it will be days to come in the clean up that’s for sure".

https://thenewdaily.com.au/weather/2021 ... eek-flood/

And "Authorities warned the floodwater is 'toxic' and urged people never to play or swim in floodwater" - is that down to mining, or is it just general?

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaki ... 1623307752

And we're on flood watch again apparently.
https://emergency.vic.gov.au/public/eve ... F8547.html
Hopefully by Monday it'll be fine.

[spot]

And we're on flood watch again apparently.
https://emergency.vic.gov.au/public/eve ... F8547.html
Hopefully by Monday it'll be fine.

That's a good public announcement site though. Round here the best you'd find is sporadic information in the local newspaper.

"never drive, walk or ride through floodwater" sums up a lot. A horse should have more sense than to let you ride.

You all sound better prepared than New Yorkers, though they have fewer crocodiles.

Running floodwater might be a lot more lethal than standing floodwater, watch out for ripples.

[magentaflame]

OOHHH ...earthquake Whilst I'm sitting here.

Noisy things aren't they?

magnitude 6....interesting we're not near any plates

[spot]

OOHHH ...earthquake Whilst I'm sitting here.

Noisy things aren't they?

magnitude 6....interesting we're not near any plates

And local - we had the Gippsland radio lady on the news this morning telling how nobody knew Gippsland could do that, and it was the biggest since the British sailed into Botany Bay, and that even Tasmanians felt it.

[magentaflame]

OOHHH ...earthquake Whilst I'm sitting here.

Noisy things aren't they?

magnitude 6....interesting we're not near any plates

And local - we had the Gippsland radio lady on the news this morning telling how nobody knew Gippsland could do that, and it was the biggest since the British sailed into Botany Bay, and that even Tasmanians felt it.

What a nonsense.
All of these have their epicentre in Gippsland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... _Australia

Alpine National Park 1904-04-10 5.0
Bass Strait 1946-09-15 6.2
Mt Hotham 1966-05-04 5.5
Boolarra, Victoria 1969-06-20 5.3
Wonnangatta, Victoria 1982-11-21 5.4
Mount Baw Baw 1996-09-25 5.0
Boolarra, Victoria 2000-08-29 5.0
Gippsland 2012-06-19 5.4
Mansfield, Victoria 2021-09-22 5.9
And that's not all of them.

The thing is, just because an epicentre might be on the other side of the state doesn't mean lots of other places won't feel it. On this very forum years ago I wrote how to get teenage boys off a couch.....just throw an earthquake at them. I still remember that wave through the floor boards. It may have been the 2012 one but I'm not sure.
Interestingly it's not the earthquake itself that does the damage but the depth that it happens at. This one was ten Km down. It's epicentre was in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.

My youngest ... god bless 'im. He spoke to his partners mother in Chile, afterward. She laughed at him for being scared of a little rumble lol. She could tell him a thing or two about earthquakes I'm sure. lol

[FourPart]

OOHHH ...earthquake Whilst I'm sitting here.

Noisy things aren't they?

magnitude 6....interesting we're not near any plates

Any Fracking sites near you?

[spot]

OOHHH ...earthquake Whilst I'm sitting here.

Noisy things aren't they?

magnitude 6....interesting we're not near any plates

And local - we had the Gippsland radio lady on the news this morning telling how nobody knew Gippsland could do that, and it was the biggest since the British sailed into Botany Bay, and that even Tasmanians felt it.

What a nonsense.
All of these have their epicentre in Gippsland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... _Australia

Alpine National Park 1904-04-10 5.0
Bass Strait 1946-09-15 6.2
Mt Hotham 1966-05-04 5.5
Boolarra, Victoria 1969-06-20 5.3
Wonnangatta, Victoria 1982-11-21 5.4
Mount Baw Baw 1996-09-25 5.0
Boolarra, Victoria 2000-08-29 5.0
Gippsland 2012-06-19 5.4
Mansfield, Victoria 2021-09-22 5.9
And that's not all of them.

The thing is, just because an epicentre might be on the other side of the state doesn't mean lots of other places won't feel it. On this very forum years ago I wrote how to get teenage boys off a couch.....just throw an earthquake at them. I still remember that wave through the floor boards. It may have been the 2012 one but I'm not sure.
Interestingly it's not the earthquake itself that does the damage but the depth that it happens at. This one was ten Km down. It's epicentre was in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.

My youngest ... god bless 'im. He spoke to his partners mother in Chile, afterward. She laughed at him for being scared of a little rumble lol. She could tell him a thing or two about earthquakes I'm sure. lol

Today's innuendo, from the BBC news website:

The Australian city of Melbourne experienced its strongest earthquake in more than a century on Wednesday - but many people appeared surprisingly unfazed.

One resident said he thought the 5.9 magnitude quake was his neighbours doing a "high intensity workout".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-australia-58655306

[Betty Boop]

Facebook is down, has been since 5pm ish, who took facebook out?

[spot]

It was said on the news that the outage was two hours. And whatsapp and something else they own. Instagram?