The "And in other news..." thread

[dcbwhaley]

From the BBC:
‘The sale of Royal Mail's parent company to a Czech billionaire has been approved by the government.’

The post is in the Czech

 

[Strat-tastic]

That's the Czech mate!

 

[PG]

After 5 years of study, applied mathematicians at New York University have concluded that an hourglass figure is ideal for mastering art of hula hooping.
https://www.theguardian.com/science...for-mastering-art-of-hula-hooping-study-finds

According to the authors, the findings may have useful applications in how to harvest energy from vibrating objects or manipulate objects using rotational forces instead of gripping them. (my bold)

Alternatively they may not be that useful. Wonder if they could have consulted some experts children about hula hooping!

 

[TheGuy77]

Chocolate milk definitely doesn’t come from brown cows – but some adults think otherwise​

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/chocolate-milk-help-trnd/index.html

A survey from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy found that 7% of American adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. And if that percentage sounds small enough to be reasonable, hang onto your hats: 7% of American adults is about 17.3 million people.

My goodness. Fully grown adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows or some magic [CENSORED].

 

[trainswitheddy]

Chocolate milk definitely doesn’t come from brown cows – but some adults think otherwise​

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/chocolate-milk-help-trnd/index.html

My goodness. Fully grown adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows or some magic [CENSORED].

To be honest, how many people giggled at the question and put brown cows? I know I'd of been tempted

 

[TheGuy77]

To be honest, how many people giggled at the question and put brown cows? I know I'd of been tempted

Mind you, you might have to take that into account. They should do another survey about strawberry milk coming from pink cows.

 

[PG]

My goodness. Fully grown adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows or some magic [CENSORED].

The same folk probably think that putting cows on the waltzer or a roller coaster is how they get milk shake

 

[MotCO]

Chocolate milk definitely doesn’t come from brown cows – but some adults think otherwise​

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/06/16/us/chocolate-milk-help-trnd/index.html

My goodness. Fully grown adults think chocolate milk comes from brown cows or some magic [CENSORED].

But that's crazy. Everyone knows milk comes from milk bottles

 

[TheGuy77]

The same folk probably think that putting cows on the waltzer or a roller coaster is how they get milk shake

Keep in mind that 17.3 million people is the same as pretty much all the large cities in the UK combined.

 

[Calthrop]

I do voluntary stuff at a food bank; find a bit of a charming oddity in my colleagues' there speaking of "blue milk" or "green milk" -- referring to the colour of cartons, re "variations on" long-life milk. Gives rise for me, to whimsical thoughts about the complicated life of a dairy farmer: needing assorted "shapes and makes" of cow; not necessarily with the actual beast being the respective colour; but anyway with different varieties -- each one's speciality being, giving milk of a different hue. And the well-loved verse about the purple cow, has got to come in here somewhere ...

 

[Sun Chariot]

Oh moo-cow silhouetted by the moon -
But you're not black 'n' white, you're bright maroon.
You didn't eat a beetroot did you, chump?
Just wait until you do a purple dump!

 

[Purple Train]

I do voluntary stuff at a food bank; find a bit of a charming oddity in my colleagues' there speaking of "blue milk" or "green milk" -- referring to the colour of cartons, re "variations on" long-life milk. Gives rise for me, to whimsical thoughts about the complicated life of a dairy farmer: needing assorted "shapes and makes" of cow; not necessarily with the actual beast being the respective colour; but anyway with different varieties -- each one's speciality being, giving milk of a different hue. And the well-loved verse about the purple cow, has got to come in here somewhere ...

I wonder what colour milk a Highland cow would produce. Would that explain the strange milk with a yellow lid?

On the subject of food, that reminds me that it took me longer to work out that there is no such thing as a raisin bush than it took me to memorise the opening to Pride and Prejudice. It's weird looking at the gaps in one's knowledge sometimes!

 

[Calthrop]

I confess to being an inveterate hater of Jane Austen's work -- which I usually qualify with, "I'm sure it's not her, it's me". Give me raisin bushes any time, in preference to anything whatever from the output of that dame !

 

[Purple Train]

I confess to being an inveterate hater of Jane Austen's work -- which I usually qualify with, "I'm sure it's not her, it's me". Give me raisin bushes any time, in preference to anything whatever from the output of that dame !

Oh dear. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice has a piece of wisdom for every occasion! Sadly it did not teach me about raisin bushes.

 

[Gloster]

Oh dear. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice has a piece of wisdom for every occasion! Sadly it did not teach me about raisin bushes.

I tried (*) to read Austen when I was seventeen, but didn’t get on with it. Later on I tried Emma and thoroughly enjoyed it: the wit is wasted on teenagers.

* - Actually ‘forced’ is nearer the truth as my mother had the brilliant/mad idea that I should study six A-levels, three of them in my spare time. I think that she had heard that a friend‘s sprog was doing six O-levels, got confused between O and A, and she wasn’t going to be outdone.

 

[Calthrop]

I tried (*) to read Austen when I was seventeen, but didn’t get on with it. Later on I tried Emma and thoroughly enjoyed it: the wit is wasted on teenagers.

I've tried her half a dozen times over the decades; but -- initial negative feelings to have to try to combat; and her Regency-era language drove me mad. Was never able to manage more than, at best, the first twenty-odd pages; before throwing the book with great force, against the opposite wall. No doubt I'm the loser here; but "never in this life", I'm afraid.

* - Actually ‘forced’ is nearer the truth as my mother had the brilliant/mad idea that I should study six A-levels, three of them in my spare time. I think that she had heard that a friend‘s sprog was doing six O-levels, got confused between O and A, and she wasn’t going to be outdone.

"Education, inc." in general -- oh, dear Lord ! One feels in tune with the splendid Molesworth books -- "Down With Skool".

 

[edwin_m]

Purple cows in a raisin bush
Truly my brain is turning to mush
I thought that nothing less likely could be
Than an elephant's nest in a rhubarb tree

 

[Sun Chariot]

Did any of you see the New Year's Day whistle-up events?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr2vd5q0w2o

"Hundreds turned out across the south of England for the "whistle-up" to mark 200 years of passenger rail travel.
The co-ordinated event involved locomotives across the UK and beyond sounding their whistles and horns at noon.
Swanage Railway, North Dorset Railway, Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Didcot Rail Centre were among those taking part."

 

[D6130]

Did any of you see the New Year's Day whistle-up events?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr2vd5q0w2o

"Hundreds turned out across the south of England for the "whistle-up" to mark 200 years of passenger rail travel.
The co-ordinated event involved locomotives across the UK and beyond sounding their whistles and horns at noon.
Swanage Railway, North Dorset Railway, Isle of Wight Steam Railway and Didcot Rail Centre were among those taking part."

Yes....it was featured on BBC Radio 4s 'The World at One' today, with volunteers being interviewed on the South Devon. Swanage and Lincolnshire Wolds railways; followed by recoedings of much whistling.

 

[brad465]

This is a sick story:

Italian village forbids residents from becoming ill

The mayor of Belcastro said the "humorous provocation" was an attempt to expose the state of the region's healthcare system.

www.bbc.co.uk

A small Italian village has banned its residents from becoming seriously ill.
People living in Belcastro "are ... ordered to avoid contracting any illness that may require emergency medical assistance," a decree from local Mayor Antonio Torchia states.
Belcastro sits in the southern region of Calabria - one of Italy's poorest.
Torchia said the move was "obviously a humorous provocation", but that it was having more of an effect than the urgent notices he had sent to regional authorities to highlight the shortcomings of the local healthcare system.
Around half of Belcastro's 1,200 residents are over the age of 65 and the nearest Accident & Emergency (A&E) department is over 45km (28 miles) away, the mayor said.
He added that the A&E was only reachable by a road with a 30kmh (18mph) speed limit.
The village's on-call doctor surgery is also only open sporadically and offers no cover during weekends, holidays or after hours.
Torchia told Italian TV that it was hard to "feel safe when you know that if you need assistance, your only hope is to make it to [A&E] on time" - and that the roads were almost "more of a risk than any illness".
As part of the decree, residents have also been ordered "not to engage in behaviours that may be harmful and to avoid domestic accidents", and "not to leave the house too often, travel or practise sports, and to [instead] rest for the majority of the time".
It is unclear how these new rules will be enforced, if at all.
The sparsely populated region of Calabria - the tip of Italy's boot - is one of the country's poorest.
Political mismanagement and mafia interference have decimated its healthcare system, which was put under special administration from the central government almost 15 years ago.
Rome-appointed commissioners have had difficulties tackling the vast levels of debt faced by hospitals, meaning Calabrians remain crippled by a serious lack of medical personnel and beds, as well as interminable waiting lists.

 

[AndyPJG]

BBC News - Beds, Herts & Bucks
Cold-call woe for workman as phone frozen in rink

The phone has thawed despite the cold snap.....
BBC News - Beds, Herts & Bucks

Phone rescued from ice rink after two-month freeze
An phone accidentally frozen in an ice rink has been returned to its owner after surviving a chilly eight weeks below the surface.
The bright pink device was entombed in an icy grave at Willen Lake, Milton Keynes, after 60,000 litres (13,000 gallons) of water was poured over it in November.
It belonged to the daughter of a workman building the rink, who said she was "over the moon" to have her phone back.
The red-faced dad said to "everyone's astonishment" the device was still fully operational, if not a little cold.
The iPhone had been mistakenly left on the rink's metal framework before being encased in two inches of ice and skated over thousands of times.
Workers finally retrieved it and were amazed when, against all odds, it switched back on.

 

[najaB]

The phone has thawed despite the cold snap.....
BBC News - Beds, Herts & Bucks

There's Apple's next iPhone advert on ice for when they're ready for it.

 

[edwin_m]

They may need to change the rinktone.

 

[D6130]

My smartphone sometimes freezes at the most inopportune moment. It must be on the downward slide!

 

[AndyPJG]

and another chilled item....
BBC News - W Yorks

Teenager recreates Venus sculpture in snow​

Image source,Emily Bates
Image caption,
Emily recreated the Venus de Milo from snow in her back garden
Grace Wood
BBC News, Yorkshire

• • Published
    8 hours ago

A teenager has recreated the Venus de Milo out of snow in her back garden.
Emily Bates, 17, sculpted the frozen goddess in her Leeds garden when her school had an inset day.
Her mum, Sue Bates, said she was "completely shocked" when she looked out her window on Monday to see Emily putting the final touches to her classical sculpture.
Mrs Bates said: "She's amazing at art. I thought she was just out there doing a snowman and then when I looked out I thought 'why's she still out there' and then she had done this amazing sculpture."
... ... more

{photo shows Venus de Milo statue 'sculpted' in snow}

 

[brad465]

While much of the LA wildfire news is a tragedy, I couldn't help feel this specific story is top irony. Climate change scepticism was discussed at one point in the podcast while the home of one of them was destroyed in an event exacerbated by climate change:

Mel Gibson says home burned down in LA wildfires

The Oscar-winning film star criticises California Governor Gavin Newsom over the wildfires raging in LA.

www.bbc.co.uk

Mel Gibson has revealed his home has been destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires while he was away recording Joe Rogan's podcast.
The Oscar-winning film star said his Malibu property was "completely toasted" and criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom over the crisis.
At least 10 people have died in the wildfires, which have burned down thousands of buildings and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.
A host of celebrities have told how they have lost their properties, while officials have warned more high winds could further fan the flames of the wildfires.
Gibson said he felt "ill at ease" during his visit to Austin, Texas, to appear as a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, because he knew his neighbourhood was "on fire".
"It's kind of devastating, it's emotional," Gibson said on NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas Reports, external.
"I've been relieved from the burden of my stuff because it's all in cinders."
The Braveheart star said he had lived at his property for about 15 years and the homes of some of his neighbours had also "gone", including one belonging to actor Ed Harris.
Gibson said his family had followed an evacuation order and they were safe.
In the podcast with Rogan, external, Gibson criticised the California governor, saying Newsom claimed he was "going to take care of the forests" but "didn't do anything".
"I think all our tax dollars probably went for Gavin's hair gel," the actor said.

 

[AndyPJG]

Dog locks locksmith out of his van
BBC News - Norfolk

A locksmith turned to social media to appeal for help after his dogs locked him out of his work van, with his tools trapped inside.

Peter Macann, 31, from Dereham, Norfolk, said he was on his way to help a customer earlier this month when he stopped to put air in his tyres at a service station.
Mr Macann, who has not been a locksmith for long, said one of his French bulldogs inside the vehicle stood on the central locking button and locked him out.
After turning to Facebook to make a plea for help, Mr Macann said he finally gained access to his vehicle more than an hour later when one of the dogs stood on the central locking button once again.
He said the animals were "completely unbothered by the incident".
Mr Macann said the incident happened on 11 January and he had left his only set of keys in the ignition.
"I'm a 24-hour locksmith so I had a job at about 21:00, and I went to put air in the tyres, went to pay for it, got back and I just couldn't get in," he said.
"I didn't want to call another locksmith or tell my customer I had locked myself out of my van."
Mr Macann turned to the Dereham Community Notice Board Facebook group asking for assistance.
"I'm actually a locksmith but all of my tools are inside the car," he wrote. "Oh the irony."
One person commented: "One tool is left standing outside in the cold."
Mr Macann, who saw the humour in the situation, said his search for help was unsuccessful, but thankfully his dogs Bella and Vinnie came to the rescue by somehow standing on the button again.
He said he was "too embarrassed" to tell his customer that evening why he was running late.
"I just said I got caught in traffic," he said.
Mr Macann said his dogs often travelled in the car with a harness, but he would now be "extra vigilant" that they were strapped in.
He also pledged to carry a second set of keys.
The RAC said, external Rule 57 of the Highway Code states dogs should be suitably restrained while in a vehicle so they do not distract the driver or cause injury to themselves or others in the event of an accident.
While there is no specific law about how a dog should travel, the breakdown company advises drivers to use a proper harness or dog seat belt to secure animals and prevent them from moving around a vehicle.

 

[Trackman]

Dog locks locksmith out of his van
BBC News - Norfolk

Well, he should know how to get in it. I know someone who is a locksmith and opens a lot of cars as well as house doors etc on the side, plus loads of legal paperwork!

 

[edwin_m]

Sounds like he really blotted his escutcheon. He must have been morticefied.

 

[GusB]

Oops! I thought the idea was that that promotions were supposed to make money!

Free pint per Nottingham Forest goal offer backfires with 7-0 win

The home team delivered for thirsty punters at the Gedling Inn in Nottinghamshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

A pub scored an own goal with a promotion offering a free pint every time Nottingham Forest scored - only for the Reds to win 7-0.

The Gedling Inn, in Nottinghamshire, came up with the promotion to spread the word after it started to televise local Premier League games at the venue.

But the incentive backfired after Forest scored seven without reply against Brighton on Saturday - and almost 300 free beers were handed over the bar.

Landlady Beccy Webster said: "When the final whistle went, I just said 'phew!'"

The Main Street venue had only decided on the offer on the day of the game.