[username], what have you learnt today? So, [username], what have you learnt today? Be it mind blowing, rather strange or just plain boring.....
Today I've learnt how to make my own mods for ETS2, going to be making a new skin for my truck. woo.12…1819
UK : Piper struck down by "bagpipe lung" This unfortunate British chap in early middle age caught a nasty lung disease which unfortunately proved fatal - in spite of being previously in very good physical health (previously being fit and active and easily able to walk 10km) and had never smoked in his lifetime.
He is not the only piper to have got this; it is a known risk with the modern "vegan" bagpipes that have synthetic bags - the previous ones made from leather required some stuff called seasoning (to keep them airtight) that also killed all the nasties. a popular brand has the tagline "guaranteed to make any bag tight that is not actually burst" (which should be read in a Scottish accent)
Also many pipers drank Scotch whilst piping (it is thirsty work) - alcohol also helps disinfect items ;)
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/22/wind-musicians-warned-over-hygiene-as-fatal-case-of-bagpipe-lung-reported
(full medical report here)
Bagpipe lung; a new type of interstitial lung disease? -- King et al. -- Thorax
Dutch news have also issued a warning (the pipes are equally popular over the North Sea)
Doedelzakspeler overleden aan longinfectie door smerig instrument - RTL Nieuws
Facebook admits to what data it collects on users Google also does this; but opened up its profile page years ago (initially the data it had on me was hilariously inaccurate; placing me in my early middle age rather than late youth and assuming I was a German or Dutch national (although with some family links to East Asia) and that I was also bald upon my head (if I turned off my adblockers I'd get ads for wigs and hair restorer :laugh_at:).
I've since checked (before turning the whole lot off) and it does at least get my age and gender correct - curiously Google doesn't seem to be bothering to collect other data; I suspect Google do at least accept that some folk are going to block all the tracking cookies/ads but it would cause them more reputation damage to deny services to people doing so (who are likely to be tech and privacy aware).
Of course facebook expects people to share much more personal info about themselves and their friends...
Facebook reveals every creepy bit of information that it stores on its users | News | Lifestyle | The Independent
DE : A hazard of naked swimming Although naked swimming is popular during summer in Germany; this chap was unlucky and got himself hooked on a particularly sensitive part of his body.
He managed to eventually extract the hook and drive himself to hospital where he was checked up and will not suffer any lasting damage; but apparently this bit of the Kaisersee is declared as a fishing area rather than a naturist beach (there are usually signs stating which is which...)
Herbert Fendt heeft onlangs een hachelijk avontuur beleefd. Terwijl de Duitser in de Kaisersee bij Augsburg naakt aan het zwemmen was, voelde hij ineens een stekende pijn in zijn batsbajonet. Een visser had de nudist letterlijk aan de haak geslagen.
Toen Herbert de lijn aan zijn spermaspeer ontdekte, schreeuwde hij het uit. "'Niet trekken, niet trekken!', riep ik naar de visser", zo laat de Duitser weten. "Ik was doodsbang dat hij de lijn zou ophalen."
Uiteindelijk wist Herbert – die een pseudoniem gebruikt om niet voor lul te staan – de kant te bereiken. Maar hoe hij ook rukte en sjorde, de haak kreeg hij maar niet uit zijn Bratwurst.
De beste man wist uiteindelijk in de auto te stappen en naar het ziekenhuis te rijden. "De arts kon een glimlach niet onderdrukken", aldus Herbert.
De arme drommel mag nu een week niet zwemmen of douchen. Wel heeft hij nog contact gezocht met de visser. De hengelaar had sympathie voor de naaktzwemmer, maar vertelde dat de Kaisersee niet is bedoeld om naakt te zwemmen maar juist om te vissen.
FOK.nl cookie-informatie
DE : Germans debate new advice about emergency supplies packs They suggest 10 litres water per person, enough food supplies for 10 days, real cash (in Euro notes and coins) and spare primary batteries for torches, transistor radios etc.
This is the first time since the Cold War the Germans have updated their emergency supplies suggestions (which were about the same anyway) and is part of a wider debate about civil protection and emergency planning procedures. It does to be fair make sense given that Germany is a physically large country bordered by coast on one side and is prone to extremes of weather (on top of the current global/political situation where it is under strain both from migration and a backlash from its own citizens especially disaffected young men....)
Article from Dutch NPO (the Dutch are also encouraged to keep these supplies but on a lesser scale and it is less commonly practised).
NL : Voor het eerst sinds Koude Oorlog nieuw noodpakket voor Duitsers | NOS
DK : Danish reality TV star/model(?) spiked with MDMA, ends up in hospital Hope I've got at least the subject correct; as I try not to always "cheat" with Google Translate (it can often get things completely wrong, you still need to know some elements of a languages structure) so I have to read Danish by translating it into Dutch (which takes some time).
The young girl had her drink allegedly spiked by someone who had a crush on her but would not accept rejection which is unfortunately a risk everywhere in Europe especially with MDMA being dirt cheap nowadays (previously other cheaper substances were more common in drink spiking incidents). As she was not used to taking drugs she had a bad reaction and was bluelighted to hospital (and had to stay there some days), and is now fearful to go out with her friends (it is also worrying that amongst what is by her own description a group of talented, well educated friends in a supposedly enlightened North European country that such creeps are allowed to even infest the peer group).
The rest of the article contains some fairly decent harm reduction info about MDMA use (especially with the very strong pills now found in Europe).
Paradise-pige forgiftet med MDMA: SÃ¥ slemme er bivirkningerne ? Ekstra Bladet
DK/DE : German tourist in Denmark killed by 30kg stone thrown at moving vehicle This is worrying - although bored teenage kids throwing small stones onto roads is (or was) a common problem in many areas (including just down the road from me in Essex, Eastern England) and the DR news reports many similar incidents, most kids across Europe struggle lifting anything over 10 kilos, other than those training to be bodybuilders/athletes.
These kind of concrete blocks also cost a good few Euros each and thus are not casually left lying around (otherwise folk will nick them).
I have hauled a few of them myself about 11 years ago when I was helping a friend build his recording studio in SE England (they are as you would expect good for soundproofing) - when doing a job like this no matter how fit and strong you might think you are (they are the limit of what a normal person can lift single handed) after a few minutes of that you really do not want to haul them one more cm further than they have to go.
As the detective says himself it would likely have taken at least two grown adults and a motor vehicle to transport these items.
Unfortunately a German vehicle always stands out as the license plates contain distinctive designs on them which relate to the Länder it was registered in; and all this Brexit stuff has stirred the pot in other countries than the UK...
At least the strong building regulations and quality control of Europe mean that the detectives even know what company made the blocks and roughly where they might have come from, hopefully they can catch this dangerous criminal.
EN : German killed in Danish stone-throwing ?murder? - The Local
DK : Tysk familie ofre for kast med betonflise på Fyn | Nyheder | DR
MY/PH : Malaysia news reporter criticises PH govt for hardline drugs enforcement PH and MY are next door to each other, in the same way as UK, NL, DE, DK, BE and FR- PH recenly had elections which have put a hardline candidate to power (even the Catholic Church in the Phillipines has criticised him for his attiude to human rights).
10 years ago MY, SG and ID drastically reduced their use of harsh enforcement including death penalty against drug users; out of these countries only ID has returned to its hardline stance following a public referendum (similar to Britain's Brexit vote).
Malaysias standards of press freedom are similar to UK but with a slightly greater level of government oversight; it was once very unusual for a reporter to criticise the War on Drugs at all, let alone the behaviour of a neighbouring foreign country which they have strong cultural, political and economic links with...
Shoot now, ask questions later - Regional | The Star Online12
Facebook attempting to prevent use of adblockers TBH suspect this is PR aimed at keeping ad revenue coming in, not sure if this would even be 100% possible with decent ad / element blockers such as Ublock Origin. This kind of blocker can remove not just ads but any bit of content on a page that has some kind of common identifier - even if FB use cryptic element names (they already do for the boxes that appear if you look at public sites without being logged in) these have a pattern and can be detected.
Facebook to forcefeed you web ads, whether you like it or not: Ad blocker? Get the Zuck out! ? The Register
More about Ublock Origin (you can certainly get it for Firefox and Chrome, I only use Firefox for browsing these days myself). Its been around for a while but initially was harder to use - the Germans (they were the first to find themselves blocked from news-sites etc for using ad blockers) put a lot of effort into making it more user friendly.
It can take slightly more configuration to ensure all the shite is blocked and the blockers are switched on (it sometimes defaults to being switched off and first time you install it remember to update the filters (do this from the dashboard) but is particularly good for those who read content in multiple languages.
I even customised it to let me read the kinds of pages where boxes and other rubbish block out the content if you are not signed in or use adblockers and I am not an expert at web development by any means..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin
UK: Woman in hospital after taking E pill – October 2001 Woman in hospital after taking E pill
by J. Barnes and S. Asplin - October 29, 2001
Copyright: J. Barnes and S. Asplin
Detectives launched a hunt last night to find the supplier of an Ecstasy tablet that left a woman in hospital after an illegal rave. The female reveller, who has not been named, was being treated in Ipswich Hospital last night after taking a pill at Saturday night's event, which attracted 1,500 to a disused warehouse in the town. The hunt came as an East Anglian MP pledged to look into whether the law could be changed to stop rave groups being able to set up events in private property without risk of prosecution.
Suffolk police said the event's organisers had broken into the building - formerly the Wallace Kings Home City premises at Orwell Retail Park in Ranelagh Road - and set up the rave at about 11pm. They added the event continued past dawn the following day and a woman had to be taken to hospital after taking the Ecstasy tablet, but her condition was described last night as not life-threatening.
A 21-year-old man was also taken to hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning, while a 25-year-old man had his face slashed, but refused medical treatment. Ivan Henderson, the Labour MP for Harwich and a private secretary to Home Office ministers Keith Bradley and Beverley Hughes, said he would be pushing for legislation to stop illegal raves.
"If someone owns land and they have not got the means to keep people off it, then something needs to be done," he added. "The Government should look at the changing the legislation to protect them and stop these things going on. It is not good enough that they don't cause any damage – they should ask permission from the landowner first. This is something I will be taking up."
The rave was staged by Colchester-based Pulse8 and one of the organisers, who would only give his name as Matt, said MPs should be trying to persuade local authorities to show raves more support. "They should be trying to persuade councillors to look to providing us with venues so we can stage events like this," he added.
"At the moment we are just being pushed into expensive clubs. It's not bad to have fun. People don't want to go home at 2am – what's wrong with partying until 6am?" Matt said by providing a permanent venue, Pulse8 would be able to work with the emergency services, local authorities and other rave groups to ensure premises were safe and events were run with less disruption to residents or businesses. He added every venue picked for a rave was inspected and people with fire and medical experience were on hand throughout the event.
"Every venue we use is left open – we do not break in – so if property is left open, it's a potential target as we do not have legitimate premises. There will be some noise, but for about seven hours for one night, I don't think that's really much hardship. "We cannot obviously pre-warn the emergency services, so we do the best we can, we will call an ambulance if we cannot deal with it," said Matt. But he admitted ravers were not searched for drugs as that was considered a "blatant invasion of privacy".
Matt added: "A lot of people in the world take drugs and a lot of these people may or may not come to a party. You may go out to a pub and enjoy a beer, but you don't know if the person you are with has a habit or addiction." In July, 300 people held a rave on land belonging to Stebbing farmer Tony Lanyon, but Essex Police said they were powerless to act as the revellers had not committed a criminal offence, only the civil offence of trespass. Mr Lanyon, who called the situation "ridiculous" and a "total invasion of privacy", has written to the Home Office to try to get legislation changed.
A spokeswoman for Essex Police said there was probably about one big rave a month in the county, often sited in the Braintree area. "Our hands are tied because trespass is a civil not a criminal issue. What we try to do is beat them to the location or ring round owners in a certain location and warn them to protect their property. But even if we can turn them away, they will just go on somewhere else," she added.
NL/TH : 20 000 signatures in support of jailed former cofeeshop owner in Thailand. This is an unusual case - this chap (a former coffeeshop owner) has landed in Thailand jail for a charge of money laundering from sales of cannabis in NL (not TH!), and has been sentenced to 103(!) years!
it is not immediately clear how he came to be in this unfortunate situation, especially as any alleged offences he has committed surely are under the jurisdiction of the Netherlands; at very worst he might owe them a few Euros in some form of taxes or fines but he really should be returned back to NL rather than serve time in TH (other articles rather curiously imply that the NL authorities worked with TH to get him busted there rather than NL, which is something I thought only UK occasionally did and that was back in 1990s)
FOK.nl cookie-informatie
UK : LDN : Parts of London’s Underground (metro) finally goes 24 hours About 27 years too late IMO - when I lived there and studied in Central London but lived in SE9 I managed to miss the last Tube and had to walk the entire distance from SE1 to SE9, 14km whilst half drunk (although I managed it and I didn't even have anyone try to hassle or rob me, which probably wouldn't be the case today).
Then again a youth today would still have to do the exact same (at much greater risk to their personal safety) as only a fraction of the lines have gone 24 hours.
The other more important issue is (even compared to 1980s/90s) there isn't a great deal to actually do in many parts of London late at night these days as lots of interesting places have been shut down; the remaining club venues are well outside the centre and often close at random times halfway through the night (and are also not the places where the night Tubes are currently running anyway).
That said the service is likely to be useful for the long hours low wage workers who have to work 24/7 anyway especially at weekends cleaning up stuff or
keeping things running, and a Professor is even monitoring the abundant populations of mice to see if they are stressed by the extra trains :laugh_at:
How the Night Tube could give London?s mice that Friday feeling
https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-improvements/what-we-are-doing/night-tube?intcmp=22069
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
You can revoke your consent any time using the Revoke consent button.
