News of the day

[niko_cee]

Aren't they just attention seeking mongs for the most part? Hence why so many of them seem to be 'divergent' in some way or other. This isn't some grass roots rainbow warrior type movement, which is probably why their entire movement is so shit.

[Disco]

They're no Swampy, everything really was better in the 90's.

[Spikey M]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-65776291

This Bournemouth beach stuff is properly weird. Why are they being so secretive with the details? They've confirmed nobody jumped from the peir and nobody was hit by a "vessel", but they won't go further that saying the geezer they have arrested was "on the water". Not if it was a boat, or what type of boat, or if anything has been siezed.

Was the geezer sailing around on a dildo powered nonce mobile or something?

[Disco]

They likely don't want eye witness statements tainted by reading about it on the news and repeating what they've read rather than what they saw.

[Shindig]

Or there's a wicked killer shark.

[Kikó]

They should get that guy who solved the river murder to check it out.

[Lewis]

I think the message is important but the method is garbage. Alienating the people you'd actually need to support you is some fine wrong headed tactics.

They don't need normal people to support them. The government is on their side (albeit on a slightly less idiotic timetable), the courts and police are on their side, and most of popular culture is on their side. Normal punters backing them would instantly render it a low status cause. The real question, and one which convinces me that they are just losers and old people with too much time on their hands, is why are they only blocking roads and being a bit annoying? If you really believed that current fossil fuel usage was a death sentence for humanity you would be blowing things up and killing important people.

[Pepe]

I think the message is important but the method is garbage.

What message would that be?

[Kikó]

I'm not engaging with a climate change denier.

[Yevrah]

Hang on gents, let me get the popcorn.

[Pepe]

I am not a climate change denier.

Genuinely curious what "the message" is, because it surely isn't only 'stop oil lol', right?

[Shindig]

I mean their message is 'Just Stop Oil' which is gonna kinda get done eventually. Dumb, small scale acts of disruption isn't going to do it. It's just going to make a snooker table orange or ruin a perfectly good pair of goalposts.

[Giggles]

What message would that be?

That the climate change industry is too big a behemoth to stop now.

[phonics]

The climate change industry is much bigger than the industries causing climate change.

[Kikó]

I am not a climate change denier.

Genuinely curious what "the message" is, because it surely isn't only 'stop oil lol', right?

I think the theme is more generally about changing reliance on fossil fuels and trying to force the pace on it (with these dumb stunts).

[Pepe]

What an original message that is.

[Pepe]

The climate change industry is much bigger than the industries causing climate change.

It is not, but as Lewis says, it is definitely the far more popular side. Who needs convinced at this point that we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels? Giggles and I?

EDIT: Now, if the pace of change is not fast enough for the activists, maybe they should change their message to "invest in battery technology research" or something.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The UK has already switched away from fossil fuels at a rapid pace. They just need a job and a good bottle of Radox.

[Pepe]

The only way a large scale switch from "energy source A" to "energy source B" ever occurs is when B becomes cheaper than A. Nothing else matters.

[Giggles]

It is not, but as Lewis says, it is definitely the far more popular side. Who needs convinced at this point that we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels? Giggles and I?

EDIT: Now, if the pace of change is not fast enough for the activists, maybe they should change their message to "invest in battery technology research" or something.

If we really needed to do it then it would actually be being done, rather than just using it to sell shit and raise prices.

[Lofty]

The UK has already switched away from fossil fuels at a rapid pace. They just need a job and a good bottle of Radox.

Spunking millions on a new coal mine in Cumbria.

[niko_cee]

Yeah, but that's just to secretly bury northerners in.

[Yevrah]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65783589

The absolute state of him.

[Lewis]

He walks - small steps, clenched fists - like my demented grandad walks.

[7om]

He’ll be 86 by the end of a second term if he gets re-elected.

[Ben]

They might as well elect The Rock at this point.

[Bernanke]

President Kamala. :cool:

[Lewis]

He's dead.

[Disco]

A dead legless wrestler would be better than their current options.

[Kikó]

Saying all that, his presidency has managed to pass 300 bills with bipartisan support so I think he's doing something right.

[Shindig]

Just get the guy a wheelchair and he can push through some disability laws.

[Disco]

Gerald Ford was a bit of a tumbler and FDR cheated so I reckon that puts Joe third in the crip stakes.

[Giggles]

His presidency will have been worth it just for the ultra seethe in April alone.

[Don]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/universal-basic-income-of-1600-pounds-a-month-to-be-trialled-in-england

Was thinking of putting it in the AI thread. Not a bad study to be selected for either.

[Raoul Duke]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jun/04/universal-basic-income-of-1600-pounds-a-month-to-be-trialled-in-england

Was thinking of putting it in the AI thread. Not a bad study to be selected for either.

£1600 p/m in East Finchley would probably barely cover rent nowadays

[Spikey M]

So we're trialling Communism?

[Shindig]

The fact it's regardless of income and anonymous could really, really skew the outcome of this.


Anyone from the areas is able to put themselves forward to take part and can remain anonymous. While participants will be drawn randomly, the organisers plan for it to be a representative group and to be made up of 20% of people with disabilities.

Plan or 'hope' for it? If you want to plan for it, actually prioritise those groups.

[Don]

An army of gammons seem to be bleating about UBI. No Sophie, you 'grafting' in your shitty £30k non-job isn't a viable future plan.

[Jimmy Floyd]

UBI is like that demand football fans have to be able to buy a TV package with one team's games. Never going to happen, no matter how much you want it to.

[Ben]

Surely UBI will need to happen at some point when population far outweighs jobs (AI will hoover up a lot in time). Maybe not in the immediate future but it's an inevitability eventually.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They'll find more jobs. A society with time on its hands is a recipe for chaos.

[Giggles]

Breaking people's spirits seems to be the goal these days, not keeping them busy.

[niko_cee]

Yeah, I'm sure AI will come for all the jobs one day, but the risk of automation seems to be massively overstated. So long as there is a supply of cheap people they are better/cheaper 'AI units' than some highfalutin robots. There are loads of things that you would think would have been automated by now but are largely done by swathes of poorly paid proles [putting tuna into tins always a favourite example of mine - but so much of food production still relies heavily on people as they are cheaper and better at it than machines/systems]. I was reading the other day about the car wash sector, and how it is an interesting example of automation versus cheap human labour. Through the 80s there was an obvious drive towards automation [ie car washes] but then as borders opened up and large amounts of exploitable labour became available the costs of those systems became uncompetitive against the costs of running the 'hand washes' which became ubiquitous in the 2000s. There is some move back the other way in recent years I believe. Thought it was a fascinatingly low-tech window into the idea of automation versus human labour in the 21st century.

[Raoul Duke]

They'll find more jobs. A society with time on its hands is a recipe for chaos.

Unless they're rich landowner/gentry, in which case it's fine? Just the proles who must toil

[Jimmy Floyd]

There are so few of them that it doesn't make any difference. If you had a £1600pm UBI then basically anyone doing a shit job would leave their shit job. Now, I wouldn't blame them for doing so, but it would collapse everything in on itself.

[Boydy]

1665623147532394496

I think this is probably pretty accurate on UBI.

[Spikey M]

I don't think there's any way it's actually workable. Or desirable to be honest. It feels quite Orwellian. The rich use their fancy machine's to print infinite money and the purposeless plebs eat the crumbs that fall from the table.

I'll pass.

[Boydy]

How's that different to the current situation?

[Spikey M]

At present you have the ability to improve your skill set and increase your income. With UBI it is essentially the rich and Kiko saying "you're not needed anymore. This is your lot now".

People would be bang up for having a bit of extra spending money now, but fast forward 30 years, when there's precious little work and everyone just lives off UBI... That's pure dystopia.

[Don]

UBI isn't designed to kill off jobs and personal ambition.

[Spikey M]

But it will. Especially in a world of job scarcity, which could be just around the corner.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Surely it will make labour unbelievably expensive, and in turn the price of everything will just turn society into some kind of Weimar Republic inflation singularity. And that's without the inflation from the dosh itself.

[Kikó]

Inflation is just made up anyway so we can pretend it doesn't matter.

[Giggles]

Strangely enough that notion only ever comes from the silver spoons.

[Kikó]

Eh? Inflation like the whole economic construct is a man made belief system. What's that got to do with 'silver spoons'?

[Shindig]

At present you have the ability to improve your skill set and increase your income. With UBI it is essentially the rich and Kiko saying "you're not needed anymore. This is your lot now".

People would be bang up for having a bit of extra spending money now, but fast forward 30 years, when there's precious little work and everyone just lives off UBI... That's pure dystopia.

I don't think it'll get there. Not unless the new working class (i.e. the Kiko's and the Silver Spoons) earn vastly more than they do now. And pay the appropriate tax and National Insurance to make up for 47% of the population that don't put in. And the state pension would completely shit the bed.

They always stay small experiments because the sheer shock of doing the thing wholesale would be too much to consider.

[Kikó]

State pensions are already fucked with the global aging economy.

[Shindig]

But you still get one and UBI doesn't exactly pay into a workplace/private one. UBI would have to become that pension. Again, these programmes never develop into something larger scale. It's a tiny social thing designed to make a postcode feel slightly better off for a short period of time. That's where it's the most beneficial.

[Lewis]

Inflation - as in money and/or the means of exchange being devalued, rather than inflation as measured - is the one bit of it that isn't pretend.

[Shindig]

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/woman-posing-man-tricked-short-170638969.html

Erm. How long did this go on for?

[Ben]

:D

[Lofty]

The porno parody of Mr Magoo.

[niko_cee]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-65766051

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS)

:harold:

That has to be a wind-up in the context of the story.

[Don]

:rasta:

[Don]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/06/london-school-drops-sir-and-miss-honorifics-to-fight-cultural-misogyny

As a user of Sir/Ma'am, I enjoyed the "Sir can't be used as it denotes status whilst Ma'am can't be used as it denotes status". I'm investing shares into these 'wokeness' accounts on social media.

[Bernanke]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ufo-whisteblower-david-grusch-b2352358.html

It's happening. :drool:

[phonics]

Seems the company that owns The Telegraph is on the verge of going bust which would explain their increasing levels of dick sucking of this crony-era Tory party.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/06/telegraph-parent-company-faces-being-put-into-administration?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://news.sky.com/story/crocodile-found-to-have-made-herself-pregnant-in-first-known-virgin-birth-12898219

Crocodile Jesus!

[Lofty]

Croctopussy.

[Shindig]

Crocstianity.

[Spikey M]

Not buying it, I'm an Alagathiest.

[Ian]

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/089/687/e8a.gif

[Manc]

What a crock of shit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Let's just hope people don't start worshipping Allah Gator.

[Manc]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/07/woking-council-declares-bankruptcy-with-12bn-deficit

:cab:

[Jimmy Floyd]

People outside aren't aware of it as they just put it in a drawer with the rest of Surrey, but Woking is a baffling basketcase of a place. Like an island of hell within heaven (which is also how it is the only place in non-London Surrey to sustain a half decent football club). My favourite story I've heard about it concerns the legendary 'Sheerwater Dad', a mysterious gentleman from the Asian community who is said to father dozens of children every year, with the result that certain schools are wildly overpopulated with the children of dozens of single mothers.

[Lewis]

That development around the train station is a small example of what everywhere within a certain distance of London should have, but imagine being a council and thinking that you were the best people to be in charge of that sort of cash.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-65843677

What's going on here? No one died in any 'isolated incidents' while I was at school.

[niko_cee]

There has been widespread rumour and speculation about the cause of Hamdan's death online and in the media, but police have said they will not comment until after a post-mortem examination is carried out on Thursday.

Such a tease.

A bit of digging suggests the 'isolated incident' might have been someone [alleged a bully] putting him in a 'chokehold' [which I think we called murder in the past].

[randomlegend]

I mean it could be literally anything.

[Don]

A hushed up death of an ethnic? These mans really thought appointing coconuts as PM/FMs was gonna stop them from being put up against the wall once Muslim Lives Matter takes hold.

[randomlegend]

That's not what MLM stands for mate.

[Baz]

MSM

Muslims who have sex with Muslims

[Lewis]

That's not what MLM stands for mate.

Muslims Love Minors.

[Ben]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-65843677

What's going on here? No one died in any 'isolated incidents' while I was at school.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65856111

'Isolated incident' klaxon.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Two schools in a week deploying that phrase is :sherlock: stuff. Time to start looking in rivers.

More seriously (re the Scottish one):
Police are awaiting the results of a post-mortem on a 14-year-old schoolboy who died after reportedly being put in a chokehold in a playground incident - as they deny any link to a TikTok 'TapOut challenge'.

Now, based on how the school seem to be attempting slick PR on this, I'm going with his cousin Zain Mohammed, 29, who says:


Hamdan was being bullied for being different. He was put in a chokehold and it's being passed off as a game called Tap Out.

[Jimmy Floyd]

And now this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-65855800

:sherlock:

If ever there was a politically leaned-on family statement, that is it.

[Clunge]

‘His family said Hamdan, from Harthill, had a pre-existing heart condition that had never been detected.’

:shrug:

[Kikó]

Another vaccine death.

[igor_balis]

So is Benoit still the #tapoutchallenge champion?

[Waffdon]

Nicola Sturgeon arrested :lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65874063

The Dutch are the absolute worst people going, especially when squatting elsewhere in Europe, with their plasticky cheese and shocking bread.

[Bernanke]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65874063

The Dutch are the absolute worst people going, especially when squatting elsewhere in Europe, with their plasticky cheese and shocking bread.

Having lived in the country for five years now, it never ceases to amaze me how a population that is so set on having bread and cheese for lunch every day puts up with such piss poor quality of both.

[Spikey M]

They must enforce the consumption of it ruthlessly. I went to St Martin / Sint Maarten once and the Dutch half of the island is mad for clogs, miniature windmills and disappointing cheese. It serves a purpose though; as while I sat eating some kind of spiced lamb stew, the various other white faces visiting were enjoying unmelting cheese on toast and dry sandwiches.

[Waffdon]

Can you confirm your whereabouts last night, Magic?

[Magic]

Can you confirm your whereabouts last night, @Magic (https://www.thethirdhalf.co.uk/member.php?u=47)?

Slicing and dicing.

[Raoul Duke]

Having lived in the country for five years now, it never ceases to amaze me how a population that is so set on having bread and cheese for lunch every day puts up with such piss poor quality of both.

Particularly when the Germans and Belgians are nextdoor. Instead you get this dogshit Olde Amsterdam stuff in your boterham that tastes like clogs.

[randomlegend]

https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/doctor-who-sexually-harassed-two-colleagues-is-suspended-for-9316727/

Used to work for this guy. He was an absolute turbo-cunt even ignoring the sexual harassment. 6 month suspension is a joke punishment to be honest.

[Luke Emia]

https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/doctor-who-sexually-harassed-two-colleagues-is-suspended-for-9316727/

Used to work for this guy. He was an absolute turbo-cunt even ignoring the sexual harassment. 6 month suspension is a joke punishment to be honest.

Super Kings Lynn.

[Pepe]

Makes you think.

[Lofty]

'I thought I was a man of integrity as I told my female colleagues about my magnum dong and what I wanted to do to them with it'.

[Boydy]

What's going on in Nottingham?

[Shindig]

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/woman-posing-man-tricked-short-170638969.html

Erm. How long did this go on for?

It gets better:


A trial at Chester Crown Court has heard Bilham created a Snapchat account as George Parry, a male drug dealer from Birmingham, and wore a hood while meeting the short-sighted complainant, claiming to be “paranoid” because of an involvement with Albanian gang members.

Wedge lives!


Bilham said after the first time they met in person the complainant messaged her to say “There’s something weird about you”, and blocked her on Snapchat.

But there continued an online “love hate relationship” which became “toxic” at times, the court heard.

After Bilham passed her driving test in April 2021 they agreed to go for a drive together in the countryside, where they were together in her car for five hours.

Five hours with your glasses off. :D


On another drive on May 11, 2021 Bilham crashed her mother’s car into a hedge and police were called asking for her licence, which had her real name.

Rumbled by a car crash. :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

What's going on in Nottingham?


A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after three people were killed in the city.

Police were called to Ilkeston Road just after 4am where two people were found dead in the street.

Officers were then called to another incident in Milton Street where a van had attempted to run over three people. They are currently being treated in hospital.

A man has also been found dead in Magdala Road.

Police have arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of murder and he remains in police custody.

Sounds like a stabbing spree.

[Boydy]

Yeah, just saw the breaking news notification for that. It was all "major police incident" with no details before. Grim.

[Lewis]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit

I have absolutely no problem with this. I know there is a weird lobby for women being allowed to commit crimes, as well as the abortion up until birth nutters, but you would like to think normal people would agree with it.

[niko_cee]

The law probably needs some sort of reform, which sounds like what the judge was getting at with [In their sentencing remarks, the judge made it clear that women will only be protected from prosecution if MPs bring forward legal change]. It's a complicated area.

[John Arne]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit

I have absolutely no problem with this. I know there is a weird lobby for women being allowed to commit crimes, as well as the abortion up until birth nutters, but you would like to think normal people would agree with it.

Yeah, there has to be a cut off, and for me, the current guidelines seems fairly reasonable.

You want to abort before 10 weeks - go ahead, even for no reason, I don't any issues... but at 32 weeks, with no mitigating issues, just seems a bit off.

Then again, I'm a bloke.

[Yevrah]

I could sort of understand the outrage if she'd been imprisoned for lying about being under 10 weeks but was still inside the legal limit of 24 weeks overall, but as it is does Stella Creasy want abortions to be legal after 28 weeks and beyond 30?

Having looked, I think she does:

1668250720049537024

[Yevrah]

And having read the comments, she's getting absolutely battered for her ill defined take on this, mostly by Women.

[Yevrah]

Further reading has me wondering if you can legally get an abortion anywhere in the World later than 24 weeks? New Zealand, when run by the best Woman, nay Human, ever to have lived only legalised it in 2020 and even then only up to 20 weeks.

[John Arne]

And having read the comments, she's getting absolutely battered for her ill defined take on this, mostly by Women.

Yeah. As one person asked, does any country in the world allow abortion at 8 months?

We need to be careful in the UK that abortion doesn't become a political issue (or an issue at all) like in the US, but articles like this are the reason that it will.

[randomlegend]

I don't know how I feel about it. I basically agree with the current abortion limits in this country as I understand them. I don't think a woman should be able to abort a viable foetus in contravention of those limits just because the pregnancy is unwanted and expect no consequences.

But equally, I am of the opinion that sentences for crimes should serve some purpose beyond pure punishment (which is basically just societal vengeance). I somewhat agree with those saying that a prison sentence in cases like this serve to benefit absolutely nobody and nothing.

[Yevrah]

I don't know how I feel about it. I basically agree with the current abortion limits in this country as I understand them. I don't think a woman should be able to abort a viable foetus in contravention of those limits just because the pregnancy is unwanted and expect no consequences.

But equally, I am of the opinion that sentences for crimes should serve some purpose beyond just punishment (which is basically just societal vengeance). I somewhat agree with those saying that a prison sentence in cases like this serve to benefit absolutely nobody and nothing.

It serves as a deterrent, no?

[randomlegend]

I doubt it to be honest (as in this case, where she apparently googled it and so knew the possible consequences and did it anyway).

I guess the argument should be for destigmatising people who recognise they aren't going to be able to cope with their prospective baby and ensuring avenues of support are both adequate and available.

Whether that be support to enable them to cope with keeping the child, or support in finding an alternative (such as adoption). This woman felt unable to seek help (it seems partly because of shame but I imagine also partly because of covid) and so that her only viable option was what she did; it is wrong that women should feel this way in a modern society in my opinion.

[Boydy]

Wait, she knew she was pregnant from December 2019? I thought she hadn't found out till too far along/couldn't access the services because of covid or whatever. Why would you wait so long before deciding to abort?

[randomlegend]

Yeah that hadn't quite twigged. Is that when the phone service started up?

[Giggles]

Jesus. Christ.


1668555178574749698

[Waffdon]

Slicing and dicing.

Have they caught the machete waving maniac yet?

[Pepe]

Further reading has me wondering if you can legally get an abortion anywhere in the World later than 24 weeks?

Six states in the US do not have any restrictions, which basically means that you can legally get an abortion as late as you want in the US as long as you have money to travel to one of those states.

[Spikey M]

The kid was "aborted" at between 32 and 34 weeks. Elective C-sections start at 37 weeks.

I see precious little difference between her taking those pills at that stage and a baby being shaken to death post birth. That's not an abortion, it was a fully formed, viable baby. She got off lightly.

[Lofty]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65907496

[Baz]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65907496

This was a very well known scam in certain corners of the internet.

The same crowd spend other peoples Nectar points.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I spend half those stories thinking lock them up and throw away the key and let the fish eat their rotting corpses, and then I read this:


Tesco suffered total losses of £1,966.92 in the scam, the court heard.

And then I think go on, lads, stick it to the man, they should have their ducks in a row.

[Offshore Toon]

I'd love for a judge to rule 'maybe don't replace all your staff with robots.'

[Lewis]

Wouldn't it have been refreshing if one of those Nottingham parents used their vigil platform to threaten to Timothy McVeigh the Home Office.

[Lofty]

I was mainly surprised these idiots were in the middle of Architecture and Engineering degrees.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://news.sky.com/story/poland-highway-to-hel-journey-banned-after-religious-groups-object-to-satanic-666-bus-route-12902584

Catholic dickheads.

[Giggles]

Or just not fucking idiots. I work with a cunt who's a grown adult with a house and a wife and a child who goes on with all that satanic shite like he's a toddler. Another of your square headed brethren and all.

[Spikey M]

I think there's plenty of room for every church (Mosque, synagogue, etc.) to have it's own merry band of dickheads.

[phonics]

The police watchdog director general raping a 16 year old. Grim.

[Don]

We don't have an LGBTQ+ thread yet and if I put it in the 'things that fuck you off' thread I risk coming off as homophobic so let's try here; I'm all for slapping a load of random colour on public pathways to try and bring about acceptance but the shop window the Waterstones had dedicated to children's literature today was startling. I've just google image'd 'LGBTQ children's books' to give a few examples and I can't even pick specifics out from all the horrors before me. We're not talking about 'Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, 6.5 Inches Deep' stuff aimed at 12 year olds here, we're talking about shit aimed at the absolute youngest of minds.

[Lewis]

The national religion.

[Offshore Toon]

It all started with Tinky Winky.

[Pepe]

The national religion.

World Religion mate.

There was a little Pride MONTH event where I live today. Most of the stands where for the different local churches, who are all trying to out-woke each other. Pretty lol.

[phonics]

One day someone will explain what they mean by woke. One day.

[Spikey M]

One day someone will explain what they mean by woke. One day.

TW: Reference to social issues. Please don't read if you may be offended.

People with #BLM and their pronouns in their Bio. They usually have blue or green hair, a nose piercing and some kind of deliberately awkward identity. E.g she/them and will not explain why it isn't she/her or they/them, you filthy bigot. It's violence to ask.Typical toxic masculinity from the straight cis-male patriarchy. Sounds about white. Oh and if you eat a salad you're fatphobic, so watch yourself in the food thread, that was nearly very triggering for me. #EatTheRich

[Kikó]

I think my moderating efforts are similar to the values mentioned here SvN
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/reddits-golden-geese-foul-up-its-ipo-plans-2023-06-16/

[Jimmy Floyd]

The OTT pride stuff (and BLM and its variants) you all just have to deal with I'm afraid. I'm sure you're men enough. I know it's frustrating, not having literally everything in front of you reflect your own experiences, but it's better than how things used to be.

[Spikey M]

I don't really care. Phonics asked what people think being "woke" is and that's what it is as far as I'm concerned. It only really exists on Social Media anyway. The only people behaving like it in the real world are the cunts sitting in the middle of roads and pouring milk on the floor of Harrods. The uktra-woke. Or the Woke Ultras, as it may be.

[Giggles]

Usually anyone with #bekind in an online bio are the worst people of all.

[Lewis]

The OTT pride stuff (and BLM and its variants) you all just have to deal with I'm afraid. I'm sure you're men enough. I know it's frustrating, not having literally everything in front of you reflect your own experiences, but it's better than how things used to be.

Was there not a point between criminalising it and aiming books about it at children that ought to have been a more natural end-point for how society interacts with a particular group of people, or was state-induced saturation coverage the only possible outcome?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Waterstones are a business, guessing there's a market for it. It's like complaining about Christmas baubles being on sale in October.

[Yevrah]

There are markets for absolutely loads of things that he shouldn't exist or we've decided as a society won't exist. This should be another one. It's yet another example of the insanity surrounding this issue that is going to utterly fuck up so many kids. For those suffering gender dysphoria the focus should be on the parents to recognise it and get them help, not blanket bombing every boy with the idea that he might actually be a girl.

It's utter lunacy.

[Don]

Market argument is a bit cheeky, if we're going to equate this stuff to Xmas then we could probably safely do likewise with vaping. Having said that, too fucking right there's no going back.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fyz0mBNX0AEyF3g?format=jpg&name=large

[Spikey M]

The LGBTQ+ packaging doesn't help, it muddles what are completely unrelated issues.

[Yevrah]

The LGBTQ+ packaging doesn't help, it muddles what are completely unrelated issues.

100%. I disagree with Jim on a trans issue, there appears to be a perception that I’m disagreeing with him on all issues covered by it. Quite a brilliant marketing ploy really, one has to admit.

[Don]

LGBT/LGBTQ/LGBTQI+/LGBTQQIP2SA :dc:

The flag seems to go under more transitions than the kids.

[niko_cee]

There was a good interview [or something] with a children's author I read recently, I forget what books he'd written but I've read them and they are good, and his main argument/point was that it is pointless trying to write books 'with meanings' for kids as their brains are much more wired to be interested in wild/ridiculous things and as soon as you start trying to up the worthiness they switch off and lose interest. I can definitely vouch for this. It's not to say the best kids books are devoid of meaning, but you can spot the ones that have been through the advertising representation and equality lens a mile off and the kids generally hate them.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I agree with that. It's why Roald Dahl was the GOAT, a meaning in every story but it's always subtle and below the fun and wacky surface.

[phonics]

TW: Reference to social issues. Please don't read if you may be offended.

People with #BLM and their pronouns in their Bio. They usually have blue or green hair, a nose piercing and some kind of deliberately awkward identity. E.g she/them and will not explain why it isn't she/her or they/them, you filthy bigot. It's violence to ask.Typical toxic masculinity from the straight cis-male patriarchy. Sounds about white. Oh and if you eat a salad you're fatphobic, so watch yourself in the food thread, that was nearly very triggering for me. #EatTheRich

So according to Pepe that’s what his local church is? Sounds like someone you’ve just made up in your head to be angry about.

[Spikey M]

So according to Pepe that’s what his local church is? Sounds like someone you’ve just made up in your head to be angry about.

They obviously don't exist as one person and I assumed that the intended humour would be obvious, but I'll take the reminder to consider the capabilities of the audience gratefully.

[phonics]

But thats kind of my point at large. Woke just seems to be ‘thing that annoys me’. It’s a word with almost no meaning.

[Spikey M]

But thats kind of my point at large. Woke just seems to be ‘thing that annoys me’. It’s a word with almost no meaning.

I don't think so, I think it's basically just people that buy into the "hot button" social issues of the day and go nuclear. Essentially it's just the far left and Harold, Pavel et al are the other end of the spectrum. Do they have a name? Let's go with "asleep".

[Pepe]

I am talking about churches with female pastors and LGBTQXYZ flags on their entrance. Everyone understood what I meant except for phonics (to everyone's surprise, I am sure). phonics, if you don't like the term I used, try using context to understand what I mean. I just found it amusing that in a Pride event, most booths were from churches.

[Pepe]

Usually anyone with #bekind in an online bio are the worst people of all.

When I drop off my daughter at daycare, there is a woman who drops off her kids at the same time with a KINDNESS MATTERS sticker on her car. I say 'good morning' everyday. I think that she has reluctantly replied twice. Every other day she just ignores me.

[Baz]

It should probably worry me how few opinions I have, based on reading here.

[Manc]

It's best not to have any.

[Shindig]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-65942430

Are you absolutely sure?

[Disco]

It is not clear how many people, if any, were on board at the time it went missing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65953872

The bar for operating submersibles is significantly lower than I expected it to be, perhaps that's what they were looking for.

[Alex]

What an completely bizarre thing to want to spend $250,000 on. If they offered to pay me a hundred times that and I absolutely would not get in that fucking thing and go two and a half miles under the sea. Fuck that. I can't wrap my head it.

[Yevrah]

On the flip side, if I had enough money that a quarter of a mil didn’t touch the sides I’d have done it long ago.

[Alex]

Good job the Mellin thing didn't come in for us in retrospect then Yev, could have been you! :D

[Shindig]

"A British man is missing and presumed seething."

[Disco]

Submarines do not sound like a fun place, they are somewhere you are recovered from rather than rescued. Although if something bad happens the worse the better, I'd rather be flattened instantly than trapped in the back end of the Kursk getting melted/set on fire for days on end.

[Ian]

What an completely bizarre thing to want to spend $250,000 on. If they offered to pay me a hundred times that and I absolutely would not get in that fucking thing and go two and a half miles under the sea. Fuck that. I can't wrap my head it.

Yup. Couldn't pay me enough. Being that far under the water is just nightmare fuel.

[Shindig]

The only submarines worth being in are in museums.

[Lewis]

On the flip side, if I had enough money that a quarter of a mil didn’t touch the sides I’d have done it long ago.

I found myself reading about these submarine rides a bit ago and thought the same. It must be far better than whatever the equivalent rich person holiday would look like.

[Lofty]

It seems once you are rich enough to do anything your only options to alleviate boredom when the novelty wears off are needlessly risk your life or become a sex criminal.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This is why golf is such a social good, keeps all those men out of the paedo farms.

[niko_cee]

Away from the full titanic experience package (watery grave in the icy depth of the Atlantic included) what the actual fuck is this all about?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-65951188

[Boydy]

1670931677013524487

Jesus christ

[Yevrah]

The game controller thing has to be a wind up, surely?

[Baz]

The game controller thing has to be a wind up, surely?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COYLVShkvgw

[wullie]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJAEX5M/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza?th=1

£42.60 and you too can consign billionaires to a murky death

[niko_cee]

Yeah, the more that comes out about this 'submersible' the more you think what the fuck?

I get that these things are, by their nature, going to be a bit Heath Robinson, but hearing how it got a bit stuck under the Titanic's propeller when an ABC reporter went on it in 2000 makes you think anyone would have to be insane to get in it. Imagine just being stuck down there, waiting to die. Do they have a stash of cyanide?

[Shindig]

Third party controllers should never be trusted.

I wonder if the US military still runs that server bank of Playstation 3's.

[Yevrah]

Having seen the circumstances in which these trips were run I withdraw handing over my fictional cash to partake.

Charging $250k for that sticky back plastic experience is an absolute scandal.

[Shindig]

For the risk involved, I'd say that's a fair price. How much are Virgin charging for the edge of space flights?

[Dark Soldier]

Most third party controllers have a turbo button so surely that's some help

[wullie]

Is it possible they got lost due to stick drift?

[-james-]

It looks tiny. Is the bit shown in the video the only compartment? How on earth are five people willingly cramming themselves into that?

[randomlegend]

Bodging console controllers to use in other applications is pretty common I think.

[Disco]

They're used a lot in in various militaries because they're so intuitive, there was certainly a point where US drones were being controlled in some fashion with old 360 pads.

[Boydy]

1670936174867652612

Fucking hell. Who in their right mind would get into that thing?

[Ian]

Team Fuck That being proven objectively right here.

[Yevrah]

For the risk involved, I'd say that's a fair price. How much are Virgin charging for the edge of space flights?

Yeah, but they’re not mitigating the risk for me for my $250k.

[Yevrah]

It looks tiny. Is the bit shown in the video the only compartment? How on earth are five people willingly cramming themselves into that?

This was the clincher for me. Even if you survive that death trap, the view you get is dogshit. I had visions of being in the thing from the film, not the piece of shit they actually use.

[Yevrah]

And space is about the same cost, no? If so it’s clearly better value as it simply must cost more to be propelled into space than sink to the bottom of the ocean in something made from the contents of an undergrad’s dorm room.

Seeing the Earth from space would also shit all over a rusty boat.

[Boydy]

1670972461347930112

I'm surprised there's even enough oxygen in that thing to take people down and back up.

[Yevrah]

So how would one actually die in that thing? Run out of oxygen and know it’s going to happen for a few minutes?

[-james-]

Wonder if it's plausible that the electrics/ballast fail but the oxygen supply holds up for a few days. Probably the worst conceivable way to go.

[Yevrah]

If that did happen and they somehow survive we’ll now have 5 multi-millionaires with messiah complexes. 4 out of 5 become celebs. Guaranteed.

[Shindig]

I'm sure Elon Musk is gathering a Thai kids football team to perform the rescue.

[niko_cee]

What laws, if any, apply 3 miles under the sea in the middle of the Atlantic? What I'm getting at here is 5 days oxygen for 5 people (and presumably food/water) would last 1 person a fair while longer.

[Shindig]

Physics.

[Ben]

How do you know?

[Disco]

It's conceivable that it could be disabled above it's crush depth and they'll take a few days to die but I wouldn't bet on it.

[niko_cee]

That's the first I've ever heard the term 'crush depth'.

Nasty business.

[Disco]

Given it was going to see the Titanic it must be rated (or at least able) to go all the way to the bottom so I suppose that gives them a bit more of a chance but that relies on them staying in the same area. Imagine losing power or drive and then getting swept off into the deeps until it goes pop, that would be bad but probably better than three days gradually succumbing to billionaires farts.

[Ian]

That's the first I've ever heard the term 'crush depth'.

Nasty business.

Not sure I was aware of it until I played Subnautica. That'll teach you all about crush depth.

[mikem]

The submersible accident reminds me of this:

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/everest/mount-everest-fatality-rate-ten-climbers/

Rich people just thinking being rich makes you bulletproof.

[Spikey M]

1670972461347930112

I'm surprised there's even enough oxygen in that thing to take people down and back up.


1670936174867652612

Fucking hell. Who in their right mind would get into that thing?

Nobody getting in that thing deserves to come out of it alive.

[Disco]

The helicopter of the seas.

[Boydy]

1671135674920054787

Everything I read about this sub is just mental.

[Spikey M]

There was a previous passenger (Is that the right word?) On the radio this morning and he said that it took them 2 hours to find the Titanic down there, so they only had about 20 minutes looking at it before they had to surface.

If it's taking 2 hours to find the fucking Titanic, they are NEVER finding this thing (assuming it is down there).

[Yevrah]

Worth bearing in mind that it takes that piece of shit two hours to find the Titanic, one would hope the US Navy have better odds even if they’re still slim.

No idea why but I’m going for a dramatic rescue.

[Shindig]

I can't wrap my head around what a rescue would look like. Are they going to try and pull the vessel back to the surface? You can't really do that in a hurry.

[niko_cee]

Do you still have to worry about the bends if you're in a pressurised container?

And even if you do, probably better to worry about that than flirt with not having any air to breathe for a prolonged period.

[Ben]

Worth bearing in mind that it takes that piece of shit two hours to find the Titanic, one would hope the US Navy have better odds even if they’re still slim.

No idea why but I’m going for a dramatic rescue.

Fuck it, I'm claiming, like everything these days, that it's being filmed and they'll be rescued and released on Netflix by the end of the summer.

[Gray Fox]

Even if they find it, which I don't think they ever will, a tool for dragging it up to the surface likely doesn't exist. Even if it does, getting it to the right place and getting it done would surely take longer than the air they have left even now.

[Yevrah]

Even allowing for the knock off PS2 controller surely that thing is equipped with some emergency protocols should the shit hit the fan?

[Spikey M]

Even allowing for the knock off PS2 controller surely that thing is equipped with some emergency protocols should the shit hit the fan?

It can dump the ballast and float to the surface, but:

1) that assumes it's not broken.

2) it has no method of really controlling the ascent so would likely be fatal from that depth

3) they would just be a tiny object bobbing about on the surface.

[Foe]

The next dive can go and visit the coffin on the seabed if they can’t find the titanic.

What a tragic idea to head down into one of those. Just watch the film and have a wank over rose’s tits like the rest of us.

[Yevrah]

What we really need is that riverbank (but only in a specific area and absolutely nothing more) guy and his sonar team.

[Bernanke]

1671255573277577216

Everything about this story. :happycry:

[niko_cee]

What we really need is that riverbank (but only in a specific area and absolutely nothing more) guy and his sonar team.

You need that geezer who bowled in and found Emiliano Sala's plane/corpse in about 20 minutes.

Apparently there's some deep sea salvage equipment over here [or based here and currently in Jersey or something] which might have been useful but the yanks want to use their own shitter stuff [also no idea how they would plan to get something from here to there in the time frame].

[Yevrah]

How many hours have these (dead) chaps been missing for now?

[Foe]

Do we even know they’re missing? Or could they just be cutting about with no comms and then pop back to the surface oblivious to all this?

[7om]

BBC saying they’ve got 40 hours of oxygen left. Like most other sane people, not a fucking chance I’d ever set foot in the converted drain pipe being controlled by a ps3 pad.

[Don]

Quite the shit reflection on human tech that they can't locate something like this.

[Yevrah]

We’ve just never bothered to build anything that could find it I’d imagine, as what’s the point? We know there’s fuck all down there bar some ugly fish, a doomed boat and now some dead billionaires.

[Disco]

Water is excellent at blocking radiation, you don't just science around that. Nothing that goes under that much water communicates without some huge antenna or towed array, ie something that is not under anywhere near as much water.

[John Arne]

Some banging has been heard at 30 minute intervals.

I still have no idea, even if found, how they extract it from so deep.

[Gray Fox]

Do we even know they’re missing? Or could they just be cutting about with no comms and then pop back to the surface oblivious to all this?

Even if on the surface, they can't open the capsule from inside and so would still suffocate all the same.

[Spikey M]

But less than a year later he warned his bosses that flaws in the Titan's carbon hull might go undetected without more stringent testing, and urged the company to have an outside agency certify the vessel.

He said his verbal warnings were ignored until he wrote a report and was called into a meeting with several officials - including OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush, who is aboard the missing submersible.

OceanGate responded by firing Lochridge.

This shit gives me an outrageous justice boner. Keep banging, Stockton. :happycry:

[Kikó]

1671233722585174016?t=w-JlvSIgZ58sqmxvpngmIQ&s=19

I'm guessing the lawyers are out

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/marine-technology-society-committee-2018-letter-to-ocean-gate/eddb63615a7b3764/full.pdf

[niko_cee]

On the lawyer front I'd be more interested in this 'waiver' that mentions death all the time that they get everyone to sign. If they've put as much effort and professionalism into that as seems to be reflected across the rest of their organisation then I hope they have good insurance, which they obviously won't.

[Spikey M]

I don't know how you could insure anything that amateur hour. They must have "submarine Insurance" or whatever, but the bod assessing the claim is just going to lol in the face of the piece of shit. PlayStation controller? Recycled construction waste? Previous concerns raised and the staff member sacked for it? Good luck fellas.

[7om]

Can’t wait for the Nat Geo Seconds from Disaster episode on this. Should be a corker.

[niko_cee]

Time to deploy Kiefer Sutherland.

I know it's a stupid question but is there any reason they don't attach these things to a 20 mile long rope of sorts, so they can be pulled back up if necessary? Make it fibre-optic in some way and you could use it as a comms link as well.

[Spikey M]

Time to deploy Kiefer Sutherland.

I know it's a stupid question but is there any reason they don't attach these things to a 20 mile long rope of sorts, so they can be pulled back up if necessary? Make it fibre-optic in some way and you could use it as a comms link as well.

Their current main rescue plan is to use exactly that. It's based in California and they're trying to get it to Canada, they then need a massive ship to put it on because the fucking thing is ginormous (which is why I suspect they don't all come pre-connected to one).

[Jimmy Floyd]

Don't want to be that guy, but why is this sub such a massive story? Boats sink all the time, it doesn't dominate world news for days.

[Shindig]

As opposed to Chilean coal miners or Thai children in a cave? Or a drunk woman drowning in a shallow river?

[Baz]

My wife came home from work "have you heard about that submarine?"

Love, we've been discussing it on The Dugout since Monday.

[Spikey M]

Don't want to be that guy, but why is this sub such a massive story? Boats sink all the time, it doesn't dominate world news for days.

Evil billionaires in an insane experimental submarine missing near the Titanic. It's News gold.

[Pepe]

Hard to imagine this NOT being a huge story. Plenty of lols to be had.

[Disco]

The huge rescue effort is weirder than the coverage, why so much trouble for five idiots in the Sinkatron 5000?

[Lewis]

It's unusual and it's the Titanic. NEWS.

[Spikey M]

The huge rescue effort is weirder than the coverage, why so much trouble for five idiots in the Sinkatron 5000?

5 insanely rich and well connected idiots.

[niko_cee]

Don't want to be that guy, but why is this sub such a massive story? Boats sink all the time, it doesn't dominate world news for days.

Everyone loves a good mystery. It's why the "but wot about all those migrants on the boat in Greece!" people are missing the point. The lost sub is unusual and intriguing. It's also a sort of 'unimaginably bad' situation that people [weirdly] probably find more relatable than the dead migrants.

[Ben]

It’s a Netflix documentary I’m telling you.

[Lofty]

Don't want to be that guy, but why is this sub such a massive story? Boats sink all the time, it doesn't dominate world news for days.

Unlike that woman who fell in the river.

Some things just hit the sweet spot for news. Attractive woman goes missing in mysterious circumstances. Billionaires go missing, presumed dead, ultimate mixture of horror at the situation and comedy at the sub itself and none of us plebs would get in it on a canal never mind deep sea dive in it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I know but the sub is clearly history. If it isn't then I hold my hands up and the BBC news website have their priorities spot on.

[Lofty]

I believe the BBC get sweet sweet ad revenue from those outside Charlie's remit.

[Spikey M]

I know but the sub is clearly history. If it isn't then I hold my hands up and the BBC news website have their priorities spot on.

The BBC haven't had their priorities in order for decades. Neither do the competition. We live in a world of European war, financial suicide and climate crisis. Anything outside of that is asinine bollocks in reality, but we live in the age of asinine bollocks, and this is alot less asinine than most of the shite we concentrate on these days.

[Don]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65981876

You say something, Spikey?

[Shindig]

I hope that gets a John Carmack run-in.

[Yevrah]

The sub story is the perfect mix of the macabre, remaining hope (albeit fuck all realistically) and adventure. It absolutely makes sense that it’s been so high profile.

It also offers a nice distraction from the Bank of England seemingly being determined to absolutely ruin the lives of everyone earning between £30k and, let’s say, £100k per annum.

[niko_cee]

Netflix are going to need to get a wriggle on here.