h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Had to click on the link to make sure she hadn't killed anyone else with her foolishness. Phew only killed herself. Harsh? No, she's dead nothing can bring her back - an nothing qould have been able to bring back the innocent people she could have killed.

A Darwin award candidate.

Labour loses majority on Glasgow City Council

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17365363

This is stunning. The dominance of Labour in Glasgow is the stuff of legend.

Dey Did Do Dat Den Did Dey?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17382896

"One officer, born and bred in Liverpool, said that he was deeply ashamed to say that it was drunken Liverpool fans who had caused this disaster, just as they had caused the deaths at Heysel."

Kind of wondered where that earthquake went to, Shagbark. I guess I saw reference to a different earthquake in the article. Sorry, people.

"Do you think I give a damn about what you say? What do you expect me to say? ... What a dummy!"

http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/03/16/sarkozy-calls-journalist-dummy-earns-rival-criticism

[I found this thanks to Toybox's link. Tendulkar has been seeking his 100th 100 for ages]

Tendulkar reaches 100th ton
A mythical statistic attributes one third of India’s road accidents to drivers craning their neck out to catch a glimpse of Sachin Tendulkar reaching a century on a television set in a roadside shop.

http://www.sportlive.co.za/cricket/international/2012/03/16/tendulkar-reaches-new-heights-with-100th-ton

Russell Brand arrested for iPhone throw, freed on bail


Photographer Timothy Jackson said he had been out with several fellow photographers Monday night when he started taking pictures of the 36-year-old Brand with his iPhone. Brand allegedly "flipped out" and snatched Jackson's phone before throwing it at a building, breaking a window in the process.

Brand joked "Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iPhone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory."

...of course, Brand has never been known to use a phone in anything other than an entirely reverent manner...

Used subs a 'daft' deal for Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/03/15/ns-british-mp-questions-sub-deal.html

I nominate this for the 'No Sherlock Awards'

"If this was the Americans, we'd say good luck and serves you right. But as it's Canada, I think there are a lot of questions to be answered."

What a

Ill-informed tripe.

http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/03/16/fathers4justice-launch-bizarre-attack-on-mumsnet/

Fathers4Justice take aim at own foot and pull the trigger after deciding a female-centric support site and associated forum is a bastion of gender hatred just before Mothering Sunday.

George Clooney arrested

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/george-clooney-arrested-sudan-embassy-washington-dc/story?id=15936415#.T2OkkNV6s_w

He held a speech to avert our attention to the situation in Sudan and smiled as he was ushered into the police car, more worried about his father, who was arrested with him.

Oh it's OK - he's out again. But what better publicity for his cause.

Lovely guy. In all senses of the word.

Sub HMCS Victoria fires 1st torpedoes in test

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/03/16/ns-hmcs-victoria-torpedo.html

More 'ill-informed tripe' about Canada's amazing, and really, really sleek-looking, sub fleet

No, that link actually has some information.

The story is - These subs were cut from the RN as part of the "Peace Dividend" after the Cold War ended. They were state of the art conventional subs capable of firing cruise missiles and the latest guided torpedos. As soon as the decision was made to axe the fleet, the Canadian Navy declared an interest in buying them with the intention of transferring them straight to active service patrolling Canadian waters. That's when the Canadian politicians stuck their oar in. Whilst they hummed and hawed, these boats were laid up alongside and - as happens - they were gradually cannibalised of shiny spares by the RN. Finally, the Canadian Government approved the purchase, but the boats now required work to become seaworthy. The political wrangling began again about whether the work should be done in British or Canadian yards. By the time the boats eventually arrived in Canada, they needed extensive refits.

In the meantime, Canada bought a job-lot of second hand Mk48 torpedos from the US to equip their existing, obsolescent sub fleet (former British Upholder-class). These didn't fit the new subs so, faced with the choice of admitting they'd made a mistake buying the American torpedoes, the Canadians ordered all of the modern fire-control systems in the subs to be ripped out and replaced.

It's like agreeing to buy a fleet of BMW M5 sports cars, leaving them in the street for years whilst you sort out the finance then replacing the fuel injected turbo petrol engines with diesel engines from an old fleet of Vauxhalls.

At no point can the British realistically be blamed for this fiasco. It seems the Canadian military procurement programme is as infested with incompetent politicians and paper shufflers as anyone else's. The annoying thing about your first link was a) a British politician is ridiculously ill-informed and b) trying to make political points by having a swipe at America - who are as much our allies as Canada.

Who lost their towel?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/03/16/ns-package-bus-halifax.html


~jwf~

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fasterthanlight-claims-a-mistake-7575933.html

Einstein still correct apparently

This is not news to me because of an article I saw a while back in a discussion forum at rationalskepticism.org. I was looking at a cheap science magazine called Discover recently too, though, that treated the faster-than-light neutrino as fact as late as February. Seems there is a strong desire among some folks to have Einstein turn out to be wrong in some huge way, and this particular magazine had not done its job of being objective and staying up-to-date.

Ah, but is it a >>strong desire among some folks to have Einstein turn out to be wrong in some huge way<< or is it just a vague wish that he might be, so that the rest of us would have some hope that we might someday hhike the g?

War Is Brain-Damaging/Robert Bales

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/war-is-brain-damaging.html?ref=robertbales

Cameron to fill hole in nation's finances by privatising roads

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-to-fill-hole-in-nations-finances-by-privatising-roads-7576801.html