Random News not worthy of own thread

[greypanther]

I Am starting to make plans, you see !

Good to see you are being positive! ( Even though it must be very hard... )

I have never gone down the rabbit hole that is amateur AP, yet anyway... 20000, could be just the start from what I have seen.

If I wasn't caring for my wife full time, I would be over there in a flash to try and help you, not that I would be that much help really I guess...

[BaronVerde]

Copernicus, European Emergency Management system, creates maps of the affected area of the Cumbre Vieja eruption.They are published after the respective satellite overflies and data mangling. Here's the one from today:

https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping ... P01_v1.jpg

Every red flag is a destroyed construction of any type, every yellow is damaged. But mind you, those are not all residential buildings, there are a lot of agricultural buildings around, farming, sheds, etc. The last number i heard was ~700 residential buildings.

The eruption is ongoing, the geophysicists say there's no immediate end in sight. Let's hope that no new hot spots develop further south on the dorsal.

[felter]

I can't vouch for the rest of the UK, but things are starting to get more than a little bit scarce up here, with the shop shelves slowly emptying and there doesn't seem to be any sign of panic buying either, I just wonder how long that will last as more people notice they are no longer getting their weekly shopping done. Also has anyone else been having problems getting their prescriptions filled, as it seems every time I go for mines something is missing, and I have to go back later to get what is missing, which so far has been a week.

And where is our great leader during all of this, away on holiday, as everything in the UK is just great and no problems with anything. Something tells me that him being on holiday at this time is no coincidence, I think he ran away as he knew a certain parliament report was just about to be released accusing him of killing 20,000 people. He can't blame the report on the opposition, either, as the two main characters behind it were from his own party. So I think he ran away as he does not want to take responsibility for his total and utter screw up.

[pjknibbs]

There are a few shortages at my local Morrisons--for some reason, microwave instant meals seem to be in rather short supply--but mostly things are pretty OK; plenty of eggs, bread, toilet paper and the like. I guess they might be prioritising stuff like that as being "essential" while microwave instant meals technically aren't, but even so, the shelves are nowhere near as empty as they were back during the panic buying rush at the beginning of the pandemic.

[felter]

I just have to post this as it is right on the button (warning NSFW as it does contain some bad language.)

What Boris has done.

Do you think he knows that history is not going to paint a nice picture of him, or do you think he is fooling himself into thinking he is the greatest PM of all time?

[felter]

So the British press were all up in arms because Johnson both denies the accusations and has not apologized for the people he killed. Why are they surprised, Johnson has never taken responsibility for anything he has ever done, it's always someone else to blame. Not just that for him to take accountability for his actions would or could possibly lead to some kind of prosecution, I still think at some point in the future he will face some kind of legal action from at least one of the family's for the death of their loved one that his actions or inactions caused.

[Alan Phipps]

Well, we all obviously know in detail the exact medical, scientific and political advice that the government (and by inference Boris) were being given at the time and so yes, I agree, it's really shocking that Boris personally killed all those people.

Seriously, let's wait for the actual independent public enquiry phase into the pandemic handling by UK authority public bodies and individuals in power before grabbing for the pitchforks and torches.

I'm neither defending nor accusing at present, but just waiting for thorough investigation that is not based on 20/20 hindsight, personal agendas nor media headlines. As Shakespeare said, 'Truth will out.'

[jlehtone]

William Shatner had a short trip (100 km up and back in 10 minutes). https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58885555
90-year-old and goes to space.

When do drones Amazon start to deliver shoppings to the Moon and could there be more environmental activities?

[felter]

Well, we all obviously know in detail the exact medical, scientific and political advice that the government (and by inference Boris) were being given at the time and so yes, I agree, it's really shocking that Boris personally killed all those people.

Seriously, let's wait for the actual independent public enquiry phase into the pandemic handling by UK authority public bodies and individuals in power before grabbing for the pitchforks and torches.

I'm neither defending nor accusing at present, but just waiting for thorough investigation that is not based on 20/20 hindsight, personal agendas nor media headlines. As Shakespeare said, 'Truth will out.'

This is based on an official parliament investigation, one that was lead by conservative party members, not the public, not the press and not the opposition parties though they were involved. Yes granted it was not a full public investigation, something that Boris Johnson is desperately trying to avoid, HMM I wonder why that is.

I am trying to find a copy of the report, but I don't know if it was made public, I can tell you that it was 151 pages long which is around 75,000 words, and it was pretty damning of the Government at the time, though it did say the Vaccine rollout was good. One interesting point it did bring up, was that Boris was basing his decisions on a 3-year-old report that said only 100 people would die, while more than that were already dead and dying. I don't know what that report was basing its finding on to predict 100 dead, as the Covid virus is not even 3-years-old right now.

[clakclak]

Woman gets raped on a commuter train in Philadelphia, nobody on the train did anything to help her. Eventually someone outside the train saw the woman when the train went past and alarmed the police.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/wom ... e-80620028

EDIT: This story was later proven to be wrong.

[Alan Phipps]

Following the horrible assault and murder of a British Member of Parliament at a contituency 'surgery' (where MPs meet local public and discuss their issues) being held in a church, the Home Office and Police are considering steps to improve MPs' security at such events, perhaps even involving physical barriers and possibly armed security/police being in attendance.

While I can fully understand the concern of MPs and their families since this latest murder when taken together with a previous recent murder of an MP going about her business, I still wonder if there would be quite the same attention and call for security upgrades if some lesser public service employee had been assaulted and murdered going about their job in public (eg a postie or traffic warden etc).

I'm sure more information will come out about the attack and its security consequences in good time.

[Chips]

I still wonder if there would be quite the same attention and call for security upgrades if some lesser public service employee had been assaulted and murdered going about their job in public (eg a postie or traffic warden etc).

Of course not, they're not exactly representing us in the seat of our democracy. Maybe if posties were being attacked and its specifically to do with their role in society that means they're targeted, then perhaps it'd change. Eventually...

[BaronVerde]

Now, if that doesn't make one stop and take a deep breath in awe, one would probably never have a foot in geoscience:

https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1451280712041181188

Just two days ago it would not have been possible to even get close without being killed by pyroclasts, heat, noxious gases (dead, dead, dead, questions ?). The eruption hasn't been that vigorous in the past two days, though seismic activity is still very high, at a depth between upper mantle and lower oceanic crust (where the Mohorovicic discontinuity, aka Moho, lies). Underplating and all that ...

Many a neighbourhood has been covered by the lava and ashes, and an end isn't yet in sight. But no single person was badly hurt up to now, apart from some respiratory problems.

Edit: just relalized in the lifestream of a local tv broadcaster that effusive activity (lava outflow) is strengthening again which could mean more destruction downhill.

The following link is of course just for the moment, but if you guys have problems falling asleep, here's a fireplace video. Mind the scale, the cone is currently ~200m high, but constantly changing the morphology, position of vents, phases of construction and deconstruction

https://rtvc.es/

[BaronVerde]

These guys calculated whether James Bond has actually been able to afford dining in expensive French restaurants with his assumed salaries as a public servant:.

https://www.nber.org/papers/w29415

tl,dr: Probably, once a week, in the 50s and 60s. But with the euro and worsening exchange rate that lifestyle got harder to maintain recently.

"Would you help out, honey ? I fear my wallet has been stolen ..."

He'd probably use a cooler wording.

[Alan Phipps]

Remember those Q-designed agent briefcases with all the traps and gizmos that Bond kept giving away or losing? The ones with the hidden strips of many gold sovereigns for emergency currency and bribes?

Then there was the multinational bankrolling in millions for his casino gambling operations.

Didn't he also have access to bulk flawless diamonds intended to be used in orbiting lasers?

What about the stashes and riches of the various evil agencies he inflitrated and destroyed?

I suspect he had more than a few healthy nest eggs even if he rightly declared *most* of it to HM Treasury officials.

[BaronVerde]

Bond finally revealing himself as *the* super villain with all the riches he has stashed away during his working time, orbital platforms, solar powered lasers, devices to trigger supervolcanoes, all cloaked with Q's "vanish" technique, can raise sea level (even more) and what not, and noone to the rescue.

'Nother version, Bond draws a diamond out of his pocket to pay the bill because busted, a correctly dressed official with a humourless expression steps out from behind the curtain and leads him away ... "Mr. Bond, we've been expecting you (to do that)".

Probably not going to happen. How very unrealistic ...

[BaronVerde]

They have excavated what they interpret as a living quarter for slavess/storage room in Pompeii. Gives us an insight into slaves situation.

http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/t ... -giuliana/

[greypanther]

Thank you for that link Baron, very interesting.

[clakclak]

American political ads are really something else. American Congressman Paul Gosar just published an ad in which he kills his fellow congressowoman Ocasio-Cortez. The ad uses the intro sequence and opening song from the Anime Attack on Titan. Besides being obviously scary as this video is one person threatening to kill another person he has to work with on a daily basis, it is also downright weird.

[BaronVerde]

A pleasure, @gavrushka. Though not exactly what's known as Classical Antiquity (because new fangled stuff), archeology is one of my favourite sandboxes

---------------

ESA has received the James Webb Space Telescope and assembly has begun.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2021/10/28/ ... to-kourou/

After 25 years of planning and development, JWST is set to launch on 18th of December from Kourou ELA-3 in French Guiana.
https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/launch.html

It is a beautiful machine, n'est-ce pas ?

I must admit, I am beginning to feel a bit tense