Also In The News - part 3

[Parafox]

27 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Not sure what timescale they had but it's pretty amazing bridge could be closed to traffic so quickly, even if traffic was probably minimal at this time.

 

Saw the footage earlier of the collapse and assumed it was a AI thing, couldn't believe it was real. 

 

15 minutes ago, Fox in the North said:

Agreed, the loss of life would have been unthinkable had that been rush hour.

On the last news bulletin, it was said that the ship issued a mayday call allowing the bridge to be closed before the collision.

[foxile5]

16 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

On the last news bulletin, it was said that the ship issued a mayday call allowing the bridge to be closed before the collision.

This won't stop the conspiracy theorists going utterly nuts over it.

[String fellow]

Here's my adaptation of the first verse of William McGonagall's famously crap poem about the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879:-

Beautiful road bridge of the silv’ry estuary
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That some lives have been taken away
On the last Tuesday of March 2024,
Which will be remember’d for evermore.

Edited 26 March by String fellow

[David Hankey]

11 hours ago, Guesty said:

It might not be human error. You can see on the longer video all the lights on the ship go out a couple of times before it hits. They must have been having power issues.

 

No power = no steering. Which means it goes where the current and wind takes it. Even if the steering/power does come back, you can't just turn those things immediately.

 

Surprising that a 1.6 mile bridge over a river collapses so quickly when hit by a boat.

 

Edit: 29 seconds in all the lights go out.

 

Apparently the ship's pilots were so surprised to see workers repairing potholes!!

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, Parafox said:

 

On the last news bulletin, it was said that the ship issued a mayday call allowing the bridge to be closed before the collision.

You can clearly see vehicles driving over the bridge when it happens. 

[FoyleFox]

BBC News - Lost power, a mayday call and the crash that brought down a Baltimore bridge
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68670567

 

The ship lost power, so no engines or steering, the local pilot onboard had the bridge closed to traffic.  The missing people were road crew working on the bridge. An awful tragedy but could have been far worse. 

[stripeyfox]

58 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

You can clearly see vehicles driving over the bridge when it happens. 

i *think* the vehicles on the bridge were the maintenance vehicles. The mayday call presumably enabled the bridge to be closed to traffic about to cross it. Perhaps there were some vehicles already crossing but it sounds like it's the maintenance crew who are the ones missing. 

 

I imagine the bridge is well covered by CCTV so they must have a reasonable idea of how many vehicles were on it at the time of collapse.

 

I think it is a bit suprising that a bridge like this with piers in a major waterway didn't have those piers protected with barriers (which exist on other bridges). Whilst they might not be able to withstand the impact of a massive cargo ship such as in the image below (admitedly a very different type of bridge and waterway).

 

 

[fox_favourite]

BBC News - Barclays bank payments restored after app went down in outage
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68671228

 

I'm really starting to get suspicious about all these IT 'glitches' and issues. Too many companies affected recently in a short space of time. Whether companies are shoring up their IT badly, or something more sinister at work. 

[Mike Oxlong]

 

 

 

[RobHawk]

I mean trumps always been a caracuture but he's looking worse then ever. Where have his eyes gone 🤣

[urban.spaceman]

Phoebe's parents should be actively seeking a refund for her private education.

 

 

 

[foxy boxing]

So a man who the church of England helped get baptised to become a "Christian " who was granted asylum in this country AFTER he committed a sexual assault in this country and who went on to commit an acid attack against an ex partner before being found dead after a manhunt was buried as a Muslim. Honestly you couldn't make it up. Who the @#£% do We have running the country. 

[StanSP]

1 hour ago, urban.spaceman said:

Phoebe's parents should be actively seeking a refund for her private education.

 

 

 

Might be harmless but being in contempt of court doesn't mean you have to cause harm to breach bail

What a mess. 

[ClaphamFox]

The Tory party might break up after the next election, says Robert Peston:

https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1773056315134230916?s=20

[urban.spaceman]

3 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

The Tory party might break up after the next election, says Robert Peston:

https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1773056315134230916?s=20

Don't threaten me with a good time.

[urban.spaceman]

Best thing Elon ever did for twitter was introduce the community notes. This is just brilliant.

 

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, urban.spaceman said:

Best thing Elon ever did for twitter was introduce the community notes. This is just brilliant.

 

 

 

They are funny but not necessarily always relevant.  For all we know there where 2 already in 2019, and a 3rd was not needed.  Or public opinion was against a location due to parking issues say and he listened to his voters.

 

Actually reading the minutes, planning officers had recommended refusal as they already lost too many retail units to fast food.  Perhaps that changed, or policy changed due to covid, more empty shops over a longer period etc.  

Edited 28 March by Jon the Hat

[Otis]

12 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

So a man who the church of England helped get baptised to become a "Christian " who was granted asylum in this country AFTER he committed a sexual assault in this country and who went on to commit an acid attack against an ex partner before being found dead after a manhunt was buried as a Muslim. Honestly you couldn't make it up. Who the @#£% do We have running the country. 

Should have had a Christian burial.

[StanSP]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

They are funny but not necessarily always relevant.  For all we know there where 2 already in 2019, and a 3rd was not needed.  Or public opinion was against a location due to parking issues say and he listened to his voters.

 

Actually reading the minutes, planning officers had recommended refusal as they already lost too many retail units to fast food.  Perhaps that changed, or policy changed due to covid, more empty shops over a longer period etc.  

 

Nose and smell, apparently. 

Good job those new chippies are silent and odourless! 

[hebangsthedrums]

9 hours ago, ClaphamFox said:

The Tory party might break up after the next election, says Robert Peston:

https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1773056315134230916?s=20

Robert Peston is an utter twat who wants to be in the news as much as report on it

[Foxdiamond]

The continuing scandal over the pollution in our rivers. 

[fox_up_north]

Absolute disgrace and Thames Water shareholders want to raise prices

[Foxdiamond]

12 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

Absolute disgrace and Thames Water shareholders want to raise prices

They are without shame and the pathetic platitudes these water companies come out with is insulting

[RoboFox]

Private water companies with absolutely no competition, 70-odd percent of which are foreign owned. A natural monopoly and a license to print money whilst investors load said companies with debt and pay out billions in dividends to shareholders. 

 

They enrich themselves whilst literally shitting and pissing all over the country. 

 

It's the perfect allegory for Toryism. 

 

[Guesty]

I used to be outraged by the sewage in the rivers till I found out how much it costs to fix; now I sort of understand why it never gets fixed. Don't agree with it, but understand.

 

It's £100 to 200 billion minimum. Some estimate it would be around £660 billion (others say that's far too high). I think Rory Stewart on the Rest is Politics said when he was an environment minister it was around a £300 billion estimate (could be wrong, was a while ago). I'm sure that's why when the news cover it they rarely actually go into how much it would cost to fix.

 

It's all because it's an old, outdated system where rainwater uses the same system as our waste/sewage.

 

But something needs to be done as it's increasing at an alarming rate. Yet dividends are still going out to shareholders instead of being saved up to fix it. Privatisation hasn't worked and people's water bills will in part have to be used to fund the fix. Which is why I think it always gets kicked down the road.