Grumpy Owl

Oh dear, here we go again, bit of nice weather to look forward to and... Weekend hot weather alert escalated to amber from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65849525 At least the click-bait Reach rags don't give us this rubbish: Of course, the BBC can get away with publishing these claims unchallenged because "you can trust the BBC". During the summer months, it is not uncommon for there to be periods of 'hot weather', but now everything is a 'heatwave', and the warm weather has to be described as 'extreme'. And let us not forget that this record that was 'broken' last year was for one isolated part of the UK, it is materially untrue that the 'whole UK' experienced 40C+ temperatures at that time. Oh, so this is a 'new' alert system and not quite the same as the one introduced in 2021 by the Met Office. So you can already predict that there will be a 'first ever' red alert issued sometime in July, you know, around the time when it gets really hot during the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere! Flashback to last year: https://thegrumpyowl.co.uk/2022/07/15/uks-first-red-extreme-heat-warning-but-wait/

Well I won't be rushing to buy one of these, that's for certain. To be honest, I'd probably be interested in at least trying one for a bit, but I'm already betting that the 'experience' is nothing like what is shown in the promo video. My eyesight isn't the best, and I already need strong glasses to look at computer screens and displays, and small print in books and stuff, so I wonder how these cater for 'long-sighted' people such as myself. About ten to twenty years ago, I'd have welcomed and embraced this kind of technology, but I think like Google Glass, the novelty will soon wear off and this will be dead in a few years time. Once people realise how stupid/silly they look walking around everywhere with these ski goggles on. But like Google Glass, I think this is just another 'stepping stone' and no doubt someone somewhere is already working on an 'implant' that will do the same job by directly 'hacking' into your eyesight to project this stuff into your line of vision.

See, they can't even get the following day's forecast right, we topped out here in Birmingham at a very chilly-feeling 14C today.

No sorry, I think you'll find 'exact date' is just used for click-bait purposes. You'll see this throughout any Reach owned website, like: Met Office says UK set for hottest day of year - and announces exact date warm weather ends from: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/met-office-says-uk-set-27055335 The headline bears little resemblance to the content of the article, ie "what the Met Office actually said". And as ever, what is also missing from the content is the "exact date" promised. The warm weather is expected to continue until into the autumn.

Yawn, every time I see a headline of 'everything we know...', its just a regurgitation of all the other articles that have been published, sort of all the 'tidbits' in one place. 'Everything we know' = "all you need to know'. Just lazy copy-pasting of 'tweets' and emergency service press releases. No real investigative journalism at all.

We used to sell a bit of Harker's HarkaMectin - a spot-on parasite treatment for pigeons - at work. Then one day during the pandemic, eBay banned us from selling it, under their 'prescription drug policy'. Some other similar products for animals, also containing ivermectin, also found themselves falling foul of the same policy. We tried explaining to eBay that this was a veterinary product, specifically for racing and homing pigeons, and wasn't for humans and thus not a 'prescription' medicine, but they wouldn't have any of it. Their policy warning made no specific mention of ivermectin, but it was pretty obvious to me what was going on. In the same vein, eBay also blocked the sale of a number of plant fertiliser and weed/pest control products last year. They admitted this was due to some 'pressure' by the US EPA (Environment Protection Agency), with some dubious reason given about 'concerns these products could be used by terrorists to make explosives'.

Fiat launches scrappage scheme to help EV buyers from: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/motors/2023/06/02/fiat-launches-scrappage-scheme-to-help-ev-buyers/ Even with this grant, £25k for a little 'dinky' car? You can pick up a decent second-hand 6 year old Fiat 500 for around £4k: https://www.tradecentreuk.com/cars/fiat/500/10375

Solar panels are only efficient when the sun is shining in a cloudless sky.

Hot weather is "dangerous" apparently. How hot it's going to be in each part of West Midlands this weekend according to Met Office - full list from: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/how-hot-its-going-each-27044611 I don't really consider this "hot weather" at all, it's pleasantly warm outside, but still quite comfortable. Just wait until later in the summer when it does get 'really hot'...

To be honest, this 'story' is becoming quite tedious now, and the fact that the click-bait news media outlets are all 'dripping' out a never-ending stream of 'articles' just leads me to think that as with the Nicola Bulley case, this is all just a massive distraction. The 'facts' that we have so far are: Philip Schofield is 'gay' (who cares really) after 'coming out' in 2020 He's had one 'affair' with a younger man who also worked at ITV Studios He lied about this to his co-host and his bosses He was forced to resign from This Morning and then from ITV altogether Was there really any point in him doing his 'interview' with both The Sun and the BBC? Nobody cares, he'll soon end up somewhere else (perhaps back at the BBC!) and this will all be forgotten about. Unless someone comes forward with some really lurid revelations, then all this current media coverage is just distraction fodder.

It is only shocking because people fall for this bullshit. Your PC does not physically 'emit carbon', that is materially wrong. (Where are the fact checkers when you need them? ) Also I'm constantly being reminded by my electricity supplier (EDF) that all their electricity is "100% renewable", so what's the big (green) deal?

Got it now thanks both, was Virgin Media WebSafe that was blocking it, thinks your website has viruses on it!

I'd like to have a look at this but your link doesn't work @webtrekker

See, this is why people shouldn't put all their faith and trust in what an AI tells them. AI is no substitute for "actual intelligence". Stupid people now think they are clever because they can just get answers from an AI chatbot. In this case I think the ChatGPT's answer would be correct if the towels were being dried in a tumble dryer. But the question stated 'on the line', so the answer is wrong.

And again, "it's okay when we do it!" MPs asked to repay driving fines claimed on expenses from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65736601 You'd think with the money these people earn as MPs or ministers, they'd have no problem paying these 'trivial' amounts out of their own pockets.