Welcome
Welcome to <strong>Square Eyes</strong>.

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple, and absolutely free, so please, <a href="/profile.php?mode=register">join our community today</a>!

The "Interesting things you've seen in the news" thread

Books, sport, politics, the price of fish. Anything goes here - more or less!

The "Interesting things you've seen in the news" thread

Postby Maria on Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:20 pm

"Caught speeding? Crush a camera"

From correspondents in London
January 30, 2008

A BUSINESSMAN is offering fed-up British motorists the chance to get their own back on hated speed cameras - by crushing them with a 17-tonne tank.

Bill Bailey, who runs a paintball business in southwest England, said the off-road experience with a difference would involve drivers taking his Abbott 433 Self-Propelling Gun for a spin around a quarry with a driving instructor.

But to finish off, they use the caterpillar-tracked vehicle to vent their frustrations by mowing down a mocked-up speed camera.

"It will cost about £100 for an hour in the tank, with an extra charge of £60 to crush the speed camera,'' he said.

"I think it will be popular with motorists. A lot of people may think that is a reasonable price to pay to destroy a Gatso,'' he said, referring to a Dutch-made Gatsometer brand of traffic safety camera used on British roads.

"There is also the option of blowing one up. The gun only fires blanks, but we can simulate an explosion at the other end with pyrotechnics.''

There are thought to be about 6000 speed cameras on Britain's roads.

Critics complain that they do not prevent accidents but are used by the Government to generate revenue from already heavily taxed motorists. "


Oh that sounds like so much fun!! :lol: ...although the cost is more than my fines....

Incidentally, thanks to GHG for my new avatar :P

(I've slowed down a lot lately actually!)
User avatar
Maria
Mental As Anything
Mental As Anything
 
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:41 pm

Postby Hughesy on Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:43 am

I'm really enjoying the story that's been in the news all week about the disgraced Tory MP Derek Conway, who'd been paying his son thousands of pounds for imaginary jobs in his parliamentary office.

Now, there are two main reasons why this story particularly appeals to me:

1, Because a bit of Tory sleaze is always enjoyable to watch (especially after they'd been getting all smug with various Labour MPs' various financial misdemeanours recently.)

and

2, Because his name is Derek Conway - ie exactly the same as that Chief Inspector in The Bill in the 80s and 90s! (if there's a Tory MP out there called Charles Brownlow I'd start worrying if I were him :wink: )
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Sutti's big hair on Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:06 pm

Hughesy wrote:2, Because his name is Derek Conway - ie exactly the same as that Chief Inspector in The Bill in the 80s and 90s! (if there's a Tory MP out there called Charles Brownlow I'd start worrying if I were him :wink: )

I knew the name was familiar to me! And there was I thinking I was finally getting into politics! :lol:


Read all about it: Sinister lefties are mentals! I knew it! :P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6923577.stm

Of course I'm paraphrasing for comic effect, but scientists have discovered a gene which may be more likely to increase the odds of being left-handed and they think it might also raise the risk of developing schizophrenia.
User avatar
Sutti's big hair
Five Star
Five Star
 
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:23 pm

Postby Hughesy on Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:48 pm

Sutti's big hair wrote: Read all about it: Sinister lefties are mentals! I knew it! :P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6923577.stm

Of course I'm paraphrasing for comic effect, but scientists have discovered a gene which may be more likely to increase the odds of being left-handed and they think it might also raise the risk of developing schizophrenia.


This is another dig at me isn't it? I knew it! You're all out to get me! :mad: :flash:
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Hughesy on Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:30 pm

Government to get tough on internet pirates*

People in the UK who go online and illegally download music and films may have their internet access cut under plans the government is considering.

Full story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7240234.stm

*Long John Silver must be cacking himself :sus:
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Hughesy on Fri Feb 15, 2008 11:35 am

It's official - people are sheep:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/media/press_rele ... /flock.htm

Baaaaad news for individualists everywhere!
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Sutti's big hair on Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:00 pm

Poor old Gazza has been sectioned, according to this:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21022008/ ... ealth.html

It doesn't say exactly what caused him to be sectioned, but I hope "concern" isn't enough to get someone sectioned, or I could be in trouble! :shock:
User avatar
Sutti's big hair
Five Star
Five Star
 
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:23 pm

Postby Maria on Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:07 am

I just read this....I can't quite imagine how they'll do a stage version...but still...

"Now it's 'Wicker Man' the musical!"

The next incarnation of the Scottish horror movie "The Wicker Man" is a stage musical.

Workshop sessions begin Monday in London and the musical version is expected to have a Scottish preview before opening in London's West End, The Scotsman reported.

One of the participants in the workshops is Leslie Mackie, a Scottish actress whose career began with a bit part as a schoolgirl in "The Wicker Man."

"Although it's a brilliant film, it is inherently theatrical," said Andrew Steggall, a young director who was not born when the movie was filmed in 1971. "The key ingredients are music, played by people who are in the story, and a sense of ritual. The Wicker Man would be a rich piece of theater."

"The Wicker Man" starred Christopher Lee as the laird of a Scottish island where pagan customs are practiced and Edward Woodward as a straight-laced police officer. The movie barely opened in Britain and not at all in the United States but went on to become a cult classic, spawning a Scottish festival and an unsuccessful U.S. remake with Nicholas Cage.
User avatar
Maria
Mental As Anything
Mental As Anything
 
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:41 pm

Postby Hughesy on Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:51 pm

Maria wrote:I just read this....I can't quite imagine how they'll do a stage version...but still...

"Now it's 'Wicker Man' the musical!"


I'd prefer to see 'Alan Whicker Man: The Musical' myself! :wink:

You know how Americans have to place a hand across their chest and swear allegiance to Ronald MacDonald or whoever? Well, never slow in copying all things American, however preposterous, there are now plans afoot to make kids in all English schools swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen at the start of every day's lessons. What a terrible idea, brainwashing the poor tykes into becoming loyal little subjects like that. It was bad enough when Gripper Stebson tried it in Grange Hill! :evil:

Full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ool410.xml
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Hughesy on Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:00 pm

The shocking, true story of what became of the Rocksteady Crew:

http://toomuchapplepie.blogspot.com/sea ... ady%20Crew

:wink:
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Postby Sutti's big hair on Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:44 pm

This is a sad story but I did laugh uproariously when I first heard about it because it's bonkers!

Man in Australia commits suicide by building a complex robot to shoot him:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 591734.ece
User avatar
Sutti's big hair
Five Star
Five Star
 
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:23 pm

Postby Noodle on Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:09 pm

Sutti's big hair wrote:This is a sad story but I did laugh uproariously when I first heard about it because it's bonkers!

Man in Australia commits suicide by building a complex robot to shoot him:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 591734.ece


:lol:
:cry:

That is all.
User avatar
Noodle
New Kid on the Block
 
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:44 pm

Postby Sutti's big hair on Fri May 09, 2008 9:37 pm

This is a story that helps me to see that sport isn't just about overpaid, steroid-taking, petulant athletes:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24392612/

Awww! It's like A League Of Their Own!
User avatar
Sutti's big hair
Five Star
Five Star
 
Posts: 552
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:23 pm

Postby Maria on Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:53 pm

From MSN "Odd news" today:

"Inflatable dog poo sculpture wreaks havoc"

A modern art exhibit has wreaked havoc after blowing away from a museum in the Swiss city of Berne.

The exhibit in question, titled “Complex Sh*t”, was an inflatable dog turd the size of a house.

The exhibit, a sculpture by American artist Paul McCarthy, was blown loose from its moorings at the Paul Klee centre. An inopportune gust of wind then carried it 200 yards.

The giant inflatable stool brought down an electricity line and smashed a greenhouse window before eventually coming to rest in the grounds of a children’s home.

Representatives of the museum later revealed that McCarthy’s work of art had a safety system that would automatically deflate the inflatable turd in the event of a storm but admitted the device had failed to activate.

:roll: :lol:
User avatar
Maria
Mental As Anything
Mental As Anything
 
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:41 pm

Postby Hughesy on Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:07 pm

Maria wrote:From MSN "Odd news" today:

"Inflatable dog poo sculpture wreaks havoc"

A modern art exhibit has wreaked havoc after blowing away from a museum in the Swiss city of Berne.

The exhibit in question, titled “Complex Sh*t”, was an inflatable dog turd the size of a house.

The exhibit, a sculpture by American artist Paul McCarthy, was blown loose from its moorings at the Paul Klee centre. An inopportune gust of wind then carried it 200 yards.

The giant inflatable stool brought down an electricity line and smashed a greenhouse window before eventually coming to rest in the grounds of a children’s home.

Representatives of the museum later revealed that McCarthy’s work of art had a safety system that would automatically deflate the inflatable turd in the event of a storm but admitted the device had failed to activate.

:roll: :lol:


:lol: Oh that did make me chuckle! As did this front page headline from The London Paper tonight:

GARY GLITTER: THE PAEDO HAS LANDED
User avatar
Hughesy
Special AKA
Special AKA
 
Posts: 1017
Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:41 am

Next

Return to General Chat

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

cron