The World Events Thread

[Alflives]

12 minutes ago, Ilunga said:

 

Some posters on here state we live in a time of unprecedented peace.

 

That we should not worry about the "old stockpile" of nuclear weapons.

 

Well maybe we should take heed of the bulletin of atomic scientists.

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-20/russia-conducts-missile-test-hypersonic-euro-atlantic-tsirkon/100308688 

 

Russia have been updating their nuclear weapons and delivery systems for years and now they have developed a delivery system that is both harder to detect and intercept.

 

 

China will push a country to using nukes.  

[Ilunga]

22 minutes ago, Alflives said:

China will push a country to using nukes.  

China , Russia,America whoever Alf 

 

My point in posting that article is illustrating that we are all @#$@@$ no matter who does.

 

That countries that have nukes are updating them and their delivery systems.

We as a species are not stepping back from the brink but closer.

 

I fear Russia has more chance of being the catalyst rather than China or the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bishopshodan]

2 hours ago, Ilunga said:

China , Russia,America whoever Alf 

 

My point in posting that article is illustrating that we are all @#$@@$ no matter who does.

 

That countries that have nukes are updating them and their delivery systems.

We as a species are not stepping back from the brink but closer.

 

I fear Russia has more chance of being the catalyst rather than China or the US.

Oh, humans aren't gonna make it.

 

You're right we are....@#$@@$ 

[gurn]

 

 

https://nypost.com/2021/07/21/dubai-making-its-own-rain-to-beat-120-degree-heat/

 

That’s one way to beat the heat!

Officials in Dubai are using drones to artificially increase rainfall as the city grapples with oppressive heat, video this week shows.

The rainmaking technology, known as “cloud seeding,” was put into use as summer temperatures have surged past 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the United Arab Emirates city, the Independent reported.

Experts have said the technology aims to make rain form more efficiently inside clouds and in doing so, make more water come down.

Drones are used to shoot electrical charges into clouds, causing them to clump together and trigger more rainfall.

Footage shared on Sunday by the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology showed the intense showers flooding roads in addition to flashes of lightning.

Rainmaking has become common in dry countries such as the United Arab Emirates, which typically only records four inches of rain a year, the Independent reported.

“The global water shortage is worsening in many parts of the world, so the demand for fresh water is increasing,” said Linda Zou, a professor at the UAE’s Khalifa University of Science and Technology.

“Cloud seeding could be one of the methods that can contribute to alleviating the water problem.”

With Post wires

 

[Ilunga]

8 hours ago, bishopshodan said:

Oh, humans aren't gonna make it.

 

You're right we are....@#$@@$ 

Nukes aren't the only thing that threaten the survival of life on this planet.

Those same scientists state climate change as another reason they shifted the time on the doomsday clock.

 

I read Ben Elton's book Stark over 30 years ago.

It is a comedy addressing a very serious subject,what he calls total toxic overload.

We pollute the planet so badly that the super rich want to hurry the process along while they fly to the moon and wait for the planet to heal itself.

Great book and it was also made into a miniseries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gurn]

Would not be surprised to find out that human have been shuffling between Mars and Earth for quite some time.

Ruin a place, move out, lose the memories of that place and by the time we build up the ability to reach for the starts we have screwed up our current place so begin to move back to whence we came.

[Ilunga]

8 hours ago, gurn said:

 

 

https://nypost.com/2021/07/21/dubai-making-its-own-rain-to-beat-120-degree-heat/

 

That’s one way to beat the heat!

Officials in Dubai are using drones to artificially increase rainfall as the city grapples with oppressive heat, video this week shows.

The rainmaking technology, known as “cloud seeding,” was put into use as summer temperatures have surged past 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the United Arab Emirates city, the Independent reported.

Experts have said the technology aims to make rain form more efficiently inside clouds and in doing so, make more water come down.

Drones are used to shoot electrical charges into clouds, causing them to clump together and trigger more rainfall.

Footage shared on Sunday by the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology showed the intense showers flooding roads in addition to flashes of lightning.

Rainmaking has become common in dry countries such as the United Arab Emirates, which typically only records four inches of rain a year, the Independent reported.

“The global water shortage is worsening in many parts of the world, so the demand for fresh water is increasing,” said Linda Zou, a professor at the UAE’s Khalifa University of Science and Technology.

“Cloud seeding could be one of the methods that can contribute to alleviating the water problem.”

With Post wires

 

H2O is a finite resource that life as we know it cannot exist without.

 

You guys rank third as a country with the most renewable water. 

 

The most precious commodity on the planet.

 

 

 

 

[gurn]

5 minutes ago, Ilunga said:

You guys rank third as a country with the most renewable water.

And we rate number 21 in military strength, at least according to this site       https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php

Hope that disparity doesn't become a problem.

 

[Ilunga]

9 minutes ago, gurn said:

And we rate number 21 in military strength, at least according to this site       https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-listing.php

Hope that disparity doesn't become a problem.

 

I have been saying for decades that sooner or later wars will be fought for/over it.

Somehow I fear that may become irrelevant I really feel we are heading for the abyss.

[gurn]

5 minutes ago, Ilunga said:

I have been saying for decades that sooner or later wars will be fought for/over it.

Somehow I fear that may become irrelevant I really feel we are heading for the abyss.

I do have concerns over the future, but also remind myself; when I was in my twenties my Grandpa would  go on, at length, about all that was wrong in the world.

After a few years I began to remind him of all that was right in the world.

I find I'm becoming my grandpa, and have no kids of my own to remind me of the good..

[Ilunga]

12 minutes ago, gurn said:

I do have concerns over the future, but also remind myself; when I was in my twenties my Grandpa would  go on, at length, about all that was wrong in the world.

After a few years I began to remind him of all that was right in the world.

I find I'm becoming my grandpa, and have no kids of my own to remind me of the good..

 

I have started a thread,things that make you feel good,to remind myself and other board members of the good in this world.

I was just perusing the website I pull articles off to post one,it has been a few days.

This thread illustrates nobody really wants to talk about the good things about our species.

 

At a personal level many people do help and support each other.

It is our supposed leaders and their masters that are leading us down a path of destruction.

[bishopshodan]

This weird thing is happening in Vienna now...

 

 

Global Affairs Canada 'engaging' with staff in Austria following reports of 'Havana syndrome' symptoms

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/global-affairs-canada-engaging-with-staff-in-austria-following-reports-of-havana-syndrome-symptoms-1.5519793

 

OTTAWA -- Global Affairs Canada said it is “engaging” with Canadian officials in Austria following reports that American representatives in Vienna have been experiencing symptoms similar to the mysterious “Havana syndrome.”

[RUPERTKBD]

Just read an article abut people being attacked by Coyotes in Stanley Park:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/coyotes-keep-attacking-people-in-a-vancouver-park-and-a-woman-just-got-bit-while-running/ar-AAMu15B?li=AAggFp5

 

They managed to get a photo of one of the culprits....

Spoiler

 

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Just read an article abut people being attacked by Coyotes in Stanley Park:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/coyotes-keep-attacking-people-in-a-vancouver-park-and-a-woman-just-got-bit-while-running/ar-AAMu15B?li=AAggFp5

 

They managed to get a photo of one of the culprits....

  Hide contents

 

She said her sandals slowed her down or she could have out run him. 

 

[Ilunga]

Right on Canada 

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-24/canada-to-fast-track-afghan-resettlement/100320632

 

Meanwhile here in Aus our Vets are burning their medals in disgust at our government's lack of action 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-19/veteran-burn-medals-protest-australia-afghan-translators-taliban/100305398

 

 

 

[Ilunga]

Awww man 

 

Can't you Canadians tell the difference between boys and girls ? 

 

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/canadian-broadcast-mistakes-australias-patty-mills-for-a-woman-at-tokyo-olympics-opening-ceremony/news-story/5c14dab85499394529ee465574df9565

 

 

 

[bishopshodan]

12 hours ago, Ilunga said:

Awww man 

 

Can't you Canadians tell the difference between boys and girls ? 

 

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/canadian-broadcast-mistakes-australias-patty-mills-for-a-woman-at-tokyo-olympics-opening-ceremony/news-story/5c14dab85499394529ee465574df9565

 

 

 

There was a skit on SNL called 'Its Pat'. Not one that would get many laughs these days...

 

So, since he goes by the name Patty, we will ask for a mulligan on this play.

[gurn]

5 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

There was a skit on SNL called 'Its Pat'. Not one that would get many laughs these days...

 

So, since he goes by the name Patty, we will ask for a mulligan on this play.

Pat had a significant other named Kim. That skit became a movie, probably the worst movie spin off from SNL.

[RWMc1]

18 hours ago, Ilunga said:

Awww man 

 

Can't you Canadians tell the difference between boys and girls ? 

 

https://www.news.com.au/sport/olympics/canadian-broadcast-mistakes-australias-patty-mills-for-a-woman-at-tokyo-olympics-opening-ceremony/news-story/5c14dab85499394529ee465574df9565

 

 

 

edit i can't tell where the line is anymore.

Edited July 24, 2021 by RWMc1

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

On 7/21/2021 at 1:56 PM, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

Can't think of where best to place this, and I don't think it deserves its own thread, so I'm going to toss it here into the WET in hopes that the mention of Monty Python is worldly enough.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/glucosamine-sulfate-monty-python-class-action-1.6109894

 

Life can be stuffy, and court cases even stuffier, but I'm glad that the occasional case that hits the courts evokes enough of a sense of humour from the bench that even the stuffiest court cases can sometimes have its moment of levity, even if it's satire that is driving the humour.

Dammit, they went back to being stuffy again.  

 

Quote

It is an ex-reference: B.C. judge removes 'dead parrot' joke from class-action ruling

Joke excised hours after CBC story highlights judicial precedent of Monty Python jokes

 

Jason Proctor · CBC News · Posted: Jul 24, 2021 8:00 AM PT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

 

Michael Palin, left, plays a shopkeeper who sold John Cleese, right, a parrot that appears to have died in Monty Python's iconic 1969 'dead parrot' sketch. References to the skit have been removed from a B.C. Supreme Court judgment. (Monty Python/Facebook)

It is an ex-reference.

 

It has ceased to be.

 

Days after a CBC News story highlighted Canada's judicial love affair with Monty Python, a B.C. judge has removed all references to the British comedy troupe's iconic "dead parrot" sketch from a recent class-action certification decision in B.C.

 

When it was first published on Monday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ward Branch's ruling in Krishnan vs. Jamieson Laboratories et al began with a wholesale rendering of the 1969 BBC television skit in which an irate Mr. Praline confronts a shifty shop owner over the purchase of a Norweigian Blue parrot that appears to have "shuffled off its mortal coil."

 

Branch went on to compare plaintiff Uttra Kumari Krishnan to Mr. Praline — played in the sketch by John Cleese — in her search for justice over the sale of glucosamine sulfate products that allegedly don't contain glucosamine sulfate.

 

"Much like the poor Mr. Praline, [Krishnan] complains that she was sold a health product that did not contain what it said on the bottle," Branch wrote.

 

The "corrected judgment," which replaced the original ruling Friday, makes no mention of Mr. Praline or the parrot.

 

'Not common to see jokes edited out'

 

The original decision vanished from the court's website within hours of the publication of the CBC story, which was widely circulated.

 

Branch gave no reasons for the correction.

 

University of Ottawa associate law professor Amy Salyzyn, who heads the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics, said that beyond the humorous backdrop, the ruling revision raises some serious questions.

 

 

The members of Monty Python are shown in an undated publicity still. From left: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin and Eric Idle. The British comedy group is often cited in Canadian court decisions. (PBS/Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd./The Associated Press)

 

She said judges often amend decisions to correct spelling and dates and to adhere to the requirements of publication bans. Mistakes happen to everyone.

 

"But I question whether it is appropriate to edit a judgment to remove a joke that is subsequently regretted," Salyzyn told CBC News in an email.

 

"One way to look at a poor attempt at judicial humour is as an error of judgment by the judge, and there is arguably public interest in being transparent and allowing the public to see that error. It is certainly not common to see jokes edited out of judgments."

 

Comedic plumage plucked

 

The decision in question gave the go-ahead to Krishnan to bring a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturers of a number of products that claim to contain glucosamine sulfate — purported to be a relief for osteoarthritis.

 

According to the ruling, scientific tests allegedly found no glucosamine sulfate in a bottle of Webber Naturals Glucosamine Sulfate 500 mg capsules.

 

The manufacturers dispute the claim and say they passed Health Canada's testing protocols for glucosamine sulfate — a line of argument that originally led to the judge's second dead parrot analogy.

 

 

Glucosamine pills, shown on the right, are at the centre of a class-action lawsuit in B.C. brought by a customer who claims the products do not contain glucosamine sulfate, as listed. (Eric Risberg/The Associated Press)

 

"Health Canada's testing protocols cannot change a dead parrot into a live one," Branch wrote in the first decision.

 

The judge plucked the comedic plumage from that portion of the amended ruling, which now reads: "Determining whether a product 'is what it says it is' is a material issue, regardless of Health Canada's regulatory framework."

 

A spokesperson for the court did not return a request for comment Friday.

 

Humour 'fraught terrain' for judges

 

The excision of the joke means Branch's ruling will no longer form part of a dead parrot precedent revealed by a CBC search of the Canadian Legal Information Institute database.

Judges at both federal and provincial levels have cited Monty Python — and the dead parrot sketch in particular — in cases dealing with both misrepresentations and defunct entities.

 

The Canadian judiciary appears to have a fondness for the group, whose original members — Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam — created the Flying Circus TV show, broadcast on the BBC between 1969 and 1974.

 

 

Palin performs The Lumberjack Song on the closing night of 'Monty Python Live (Mostly)' at the O2 Arena on July 20, 2014, in London, England. The song was beloved by the troupe's Canadian fans. (Dave J Hogan/Getty)

 

The group had a passionate following in Canada, the setting for another of its best-known satires, The Lumberjack Song, which features the refrain "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK."

 

A search of the Australasian Legal Information Institute's rulings reveals a similar love of Monty Python references among judges in Australia, a country whose outback philosophers were featured in the group's so-called The Bruces' Song.

 

In 2016, a judge in Melbourne accused a school district of acting like both the dead parrot shopkeeper and a knight from the 1975 film Monty Python and The Holy Grail, who said "it's only a flesh wound" after having his limbs cut off.

 

A much-cited book on defamation law in Australia also points to a line from The Holy Grail as an example of speech that is abusive but not defamatory: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."

 

The University of Ottawa's Salyzyn suggests a lesson may be found in the B.C. dead parrot reference that, in the words of the sketch, "is no more."

 

"A judge is in fraught terrain when attempting humour," she said. "The better practice may be to just leave jokes out of written decisions."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-judge-dead-parrot-joke-ruling-1.6115344

 

Bunch of the stuffiest stuffers that ever stuffingly stuffed.