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Grumpy Owl
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Posts posted by Grumpy Owl
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No surprise to hear JCB are involved.
Jo Bamford (son of John Bamford, founder of JCB) is heavily invested in hydrogen production and delivery infrastructure, and also bought Northern Irish bus manufacturer WrightBus when they collapsed into administration in 2019. The companys fortunes dramatically turned around within a couple of years and are now at the forefront of hydrogen-powered PSV development.
Using government funding, Birmingham City Council bought 20 of these for milions of pounds, with the intention being that National Express West Midlands would use them on their Walsall to Birmingham bus service. At the time of writing, there are still only about 6 or 7 used every day, due to concerns about the cost of hydrogen, which has apparently risen dramatically since their introduction, as well as problems with the refuelling depot at Tyseley in Birmingham.
Apparently National Express have already committed to buy another 120 of these, on top of the 300 fully-electric buses they have got on order.
Looks like a win-win situation for Bamford - if you supply the hydrogen-powered buses as well as the hydrogen gas to power them. Talk about right time, right place!
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Ever since I was a kid, I have questioned "what is the point of these fashion shows"?
The 'costumes' just seem to become ever more ridiculous as the years go by - nobody seems to model anything that 'normal' people might be remotely interested in wearing.
And I guess the models themselves are just 'victims' in all this, being used and abused.
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Does anyone else get tired of news stories like these?
Thief sentenced to nine months after 13 pickpocket attempts in just 45 minutes
QuoteMelania Urmuz, 51, of no fixed address, was caught attempting to pickpocket shoppers in Primark in Birmingham City Centre on Saturday, June 17.
Officers reviewed the CCTV store footage and were shocked to find that Urmuz had attempted to pick up the pocket of 13 different people in only 45 minutes.
Investigating officer PC Matt Evans said: "Urmuz was clearly a professional pickpocket and she's rightly faced swift investigation and conviction.
"I would urge members of the public to be aware of who is around them when they are out shopping and to keep their valuables close at all times.
"If you see a crime in progress please raise the alarm and help get these criminals off our streets."
The 51-year-old was charged with 13 counts of attempted theft and was remanded to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on June 19, where received the nine-month-and-a-half sentence.
A little bit of research of the surname led me to believe that this woman is Romanian. No surprise really.
I'm sure there are a lot of nice decent Romanian people out there, but it seems that the vast majority of news stories about such thefts involve Romanians.
Nine months in prison, will probably serve about 4 weeks of that, then back out on the streets and will be back at it again.
Last time I checked, Britain left the EU a few years ago, I think its high time we started deporting these people, as they clearly have no meaningful contribution to make towards our country.
"If you see a crime in progress please raise the alarm and help get these criminals off our streets."
The bigger crime is letting these people come here in the first place.
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I'm pretty sure this is just another media distraction...
Wasn't the Faulding fella "disgraced" after being unable to find Nicola Bulley's body despite leading an 'experienced' team of divers?
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5 hours ago, Bombadil said:
I've been looking into this when I have time. I doubt its going to happen, but I will keep chipping away. @Grumpy Owl
1 hour ago, screamingeagle said:as far as can remember the issue of bringing back the old forum was a legal one......(was it excuse or real issue ,i can`t tell)
it was a change of the platform and merging did not work,right?
3 hours ago, lake said:The database exists .... as, at one point I was offered it!
At another point .... It came back on line and I screenshot-ed posts from it (so have that as a time based evidence)!
No one seemed to care.
Maybe I will post what I know about it all .... I posted before that there are only two reasons why the old forum was "purposefully" taken down .... no one cared!
I'm pretty sure this OP is from before I became a moderator here! (Looking back now, it was wishful thinking!)
If I recall correctly, after this forum was hacked the first time, it was moved to a new hosting server.
The 'old' forum still existed, but was on a server the current admins had no access to. Something happened there and the old forum went offline. The admins were able to get access to the old server and retrieve the forum filesystem and database, and an attempt was made to restore it onto this current server.
@lake is correct in that something 'worked' which meant the 'old' forum was temporarily up again, but I believe there was something that caused the current forum to 'break', so the two couldn't sit side by side.
In my opinion, the old forum was using an old outdated version of VBulletin, which didn't support newer versions of PHP, and thus as web hosting companies remove old PHP versions for 'security', that's why it stopped working.
I don't recall anything about 'legal' issues, I just think it was a case that it was far too big a job to restore the old forum and its database onto a new server, especially with a database as large as the old forum's.
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On 6/15/2023 at 10:51 PM, k_j_evans said:
Are there any gas and electric providers who don't badger you every day to get a smart meter - I've had to block all the phone numbers of mine. Can't, sadly, block email domain because of bills etc
On 6/16/2023 at 1:44 AM, webtrekker said:We're
We're with British Gas for both gas and leccy. We received a letter last week saying our electric pre-payment meter was becoming too old (it's not) and there may be a risk of fire if it goes faulty, blah, blah, blaaaaah ...
So, they asked us to ring them regarding fitting of a new meter,... oh, and as they'd be fitting the electric meter, they may as well fit a new gas meter too! If we didn't respond, they'd arrange a date anyway and turn up at the door.
Anyway, we rang back the other day and said that under no circumstances would we accept Smart Meters in exchange for our old pre-payment meters. To my surprise, they just accepted this without argument and said they'd cancel the appointment and add a note that we wouldn't accept Smart Meters. No mention any more that the 'old' electric meter needed replacement!
Today, we received a letter confirming that in writing.
A few years ago now, I had Npower send someone to 'upgrade' my electricity meter to a smart one. Luckily for me, the engineer was unable to do the work, as there wasn't physically any room in the little meter cupboard for it to fit, due to the SMETS2 meters being bigger. The engineer told me that the landlord would have to do some extensive work to move the meter and consumer units out of this cupboard, which the landlord won't do while there is a sitting tenant. This would apparently be logged on the database as 'unsuitable for meter upgrade', and then Npower left me alone.
A while after that, after changing to a new supplier, I got the inevitable call from them offering to upgrade me to a smart meter. After explaining what had previously happened, and mentioning this was supposedly logged on the database, it was accepted that this property was unsuitable for upgrade.
I haven't been contacted by anyone since, even after changing supplier again.
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2 hours ago, webtrekker said:
Around 57 per cent of all meters in the UK are now smart, meaning 32.4 million homes currently have the device.
It depends on the stats really and how the figures are interpreted.
For instance, business properties will also have electricty and gas meters, so perhaps the 32.4m figure relates to total number of properties rather than just homes.
Also, most properties will have two meters, one for gas and one for electricity. Now of course not all properties have a mains gas supply, so you can't just multiply the total number of dwellings by two.
And then of course we have to factor in the number of homes that have been converted into flats, each of which will have their own meters. Say for example one five-bed house has been converted into three flats, then that's six meters in total for one property.
The headline figure is probably still misleading though, but it's social engineering 'nudge nudge' to make people without smart meters think they are in the 'minority' and that "if everybody else is doing it then so should we".
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On 6/12/2023 at 10:39 PM, k_j_evans said:
What happened to the thunder storms and flooding we were supposed to have?
We had strawberry ice lollies left over from the ones that I made last Summer
It was really weird on Monday, I guess these storms very 'very isolated' ones!
I work in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and when I left work that evening, it just started pissing it down, and luckily by the time the rain really started coming down I was already on the bus! Really torrential rain and loud claps of thunder and lightning. The roads through Sparkbrook and Sparkhill had turned into rivers, which slowed the journey down. But amazingly as we travelled south into Moseley, we reached a point where the rain just 'stopped'. I got off the bus just three miles away from where I got on, and the pavements in my neighbourhood were still dry, it was cloudly and murky and you could hear distant rumbling of thunder, but it hadn't rained there.
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On 6/9/2023 at 11:48 AM, k_j_evans said:
It's barking. Our temperatures are supposed to be up to 17 degrees with lows of 10 degrees - quite cool for June, but the Reach "journalists" are still saying that it is a risk for the over 65s etc. And, as a mate of mine (who doesn't usually agree with me) pointed out, as you go into Summer, it's always going to be the hottest day of the year. Jan 1 was the hottest day of 2023 at the time. If it was the end of December it might actually be news.
On 6/11/2023 at 11:59 AM, Grumpy Owl said:Exactly, its all just part of the psychological manipulation/social engineering.
And right on cue, here you go, exactly as you say...
UK set for new hottest day of year and Met Office issues exact date
QuoteThe Met Office says the UK is set fair to smash its hottest day of the year record on Tuesday June 13. Forecasters at the Met Office have forecasted wall-to-wall sunshine for Birmingham and the West Midlands on Tuesday.
It could see the hottest day of the year record broken for the second time in four days. In parts of the UK on Saturday, the sun shone on the hottest day of the year - with temperatures of 32.2C reached in Surrey.
The Met Office is forecasting highs of 28C in Birmingham on Tuesday - but the mercury could nudge higher elsewhere. Wall-to-wall sunshine is forecast from 7am til sunset. The temperature will feel like 29C at times.
from: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/uk-set-new-hottest-day-27105795
This will keep going and going, until of course we pass the 'peak' of summer and autumn starts to draw in.
"Experts warn the hot weather could continue until September"
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On 6/8/2023 at 10:15 PM, TheConsultant said:
LGBTQ+ community is an extension of the government, media and system at large. The people in those categories are seldom supportive of those views as its a vehicle being driven and funded by corporations, media, government think tanks etc, its an agenda and not one that represents the people it allegedly represents.
It is a cult, pure and simple.
Don't forget, 'actual' LGBTQ+ people still are very much a minority in this country - as well as in others - and I'm willing to bet that there are a number of these that while comfortable with their own sexuality, don't feel the need to 'advertise' it or use it for attention-seeking.
I'm not interested in attending any such events, but I wonder just how many people who go to these 'Pride' events are actually LGBTQ+ themselves? Or are they merely virtue-signalling, considering themselves an 'ally', or are they just there because they have been brain-washed into believing they must be present or they get seen as a 'heretic'?
Yes, you're hardly an 'oppressed minority' when you are backed by all the major corporations, media organisations and the police and education system.
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Going back to my original post, it's been looking unlikely for some time, however then yesterday...
Sunak urged to call snap election as Johnson ally predicts return for former PM
QuoteRishi Sunak has been urged to call a snap general election after three quick-fire MP resignations left the Prime Minister facing by-election battles on multiple fronts.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Sunak “must finally find a backbone” and send the country to the polls after the Prime Minister found himself three MPs down in the space of 24 hours.
The call was echoed by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey as rival parties hope to inflict more damaging by-election defeats on the Tories.
Nigel Adams on Saturday became the latest to announce he would be quitting as an MP with “immediate effect”.
Same old tired rhetoric, yawn.
But still, while I think that Sunak would be incredibly foolish to call an election - knowing full well that his party would most likely lose - this is all part of the pantomime, where situations become 'engineered'.
If there has been a plan all along to have the General Election in October, then Sunak will hold his nerve for now. But expect more shenanigans and wrangling later in the summer, perhaps end of August or early September, at which point Starmer will post the same Tweet again, and then...
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Yes, it is a strange story, certainly to hit a stationary vehicle and then die from his injuries, the cyclist must have collided at some speed.
(Perhaps if he had been wearing a helmet he might have been less-badly injured?)
Anyway you can see from the news articles, there seems to be an agenda to introduce 'new' legislation concerning e-bikes.
But there's no need. Same as with e-scooters, both are motorised two wheel vehicles (bicycles).
Motorised bicycle = "motorbike".
Simple really, classify these e-bikes and e-scooters as motorcycles, then there is legislation and regulations already in effect.
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On 6/10/2023 at 9:50 AM, Velma said:
However, they claim the ‘plastic island’ floating in the Pacific, the microplastics contained in everything and the plastic carrier bag in the belly of a whale is our fault? Let’s focus on the manufacturer and not the consumer. It’s the same as ‘health,’ they offer the ‘cure’ but never address the cause. The companies that created this plastic ‘apocalypse’ ought to take responsibility.
Exactly, the question to be asked is 'how is this the fault of consumers?' Where is all this plastic in the oceans coming from?
Certainly not from me, for many years now, we have all gotten used to 'recycling' plastics and cardboard, with seperate bins/bags at home. They then get taken away by the local council refuse collectors to be 'recycled', whatever happens next I don't know, but I would certainly like to believe that the plastics do end up getting recycled somehow.
It is not me personally dumping plastic in rivers and seas. But sadly there still are a great number of people who do not understand what litter bins are for, and will just toss away their waste anywhere, whether that be on a pavement, into a brook/river/canal, or onto the floor of a bus or train.
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On 6/9/2023 at 11:48 AM, k_j_evans said:
And, as a mate of mine (who doesn't usually agree with me) pointed out, as you go into Summer, it's always going to be the hottest day of the year. Jan 1 was the hottest day of 2023 at the time. If it was the end of December it might actually be news.
Exactly, its all just part of the psychological manipulation/social engineering.
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Oh dear, here we go again, bit of nice weather to look forward to and...
Weekend hot weather alert escalated to amber
QuoteA weekend heat-health alert has been raised from yellow to a more severe amber warning in eastern and southern England, and the Midlands.
The amber alert - in place from 09:00 BST on Friday - indicates high temperatures could affect all ages and impact the health service.
The alert, issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), continues until 09:00 BST on Monday.
Temperatures are forecast to hit 30C and some thunderstorms are expected.
A less severe yellow alert, which advises people to check on vulnerable family and friends, is in place for the north of England and London.
The UKHSA first issued a heat alert on Wednesday, but raised it saying the temperatures would rise rapidly in affected areas with temperatures high overnight.
from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65849525
At least the click-bait Reach rags don't give us this rubbish:
QuoteClimate change is making heatwaves in the UK more likely and more extreme.
Last year was the UK's warmest ever - Coningsby, in Lincolnshire, reached a record 40.3C on 19 July.
The UKHSA expects heatwaves are "likely to occur more often, be more intense and last longer in the years and decades ahead".
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.
QuoteThe new colour-coded alert system, launched last week, is run by the UKHSA and the Met Office and is aimed at reducing illness and deaths among the most vulnerable.
There is one further alert, not yet issued, representing the most serious risk. The red alert means there is a significant risk to life even for healthy people and a severe impact likely across all sectors.
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/
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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.
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23 hours ago, Grumpy Owl said:
In Birmingham, the mercury is anticipated to hit as high as 21C on Monday June 5 and Tuesday June 6.
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.
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18 hours ago, Grumpy Grapes said:
The words "exact date" have occurred quite a few times this year in dramatic predictions. It could be just click bait, but it could also be a sign of things to come, if "Back to the Future" (Part 2) is anything to go by, when the weather forecasters can precisely predict weather changes to the nearest minute. Weather engineering will be openly acknowledged.
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
QuoteThe UK is set to bask in temperatures reaching over 20C this week - ahead of the hottest day of the year. The UK could record its hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures expected to hist as high as 26C.
Highs of 24C were recorded this weekend, with the hot and dry weather likely to remain for "at least another week", according to forecasters. Met Office meteorologist Rachel Ayers said: “People can expect 24C or 25C in the warmer spots and there could even be a high of 26C in sheltered areas in the west.”
She said there was a low chance of 26C being recorded, adding: “We’d be looking at that somewhere in the west, probably similar kinds of areas, parts of Wales, maybe south-west England.” In Birmingham, the mercury is anticipated to hit as high as 21C on Monday June 5 and Tuesday June 6.
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.
QuoteHighs of 22C and 23C are expected on Saturday June 10 and Sunday June 11 in Birmingham and the West Midlands, the Met Office has also added. In its medium to long-range forecast, the Met Office says: "Temperatures generally warm away from the east coast, locally very warm."
But looking from June 9 to June 18, meteorologists warn: "Later in the period uncertainty increases, however there is a risk of showers or thunderstorms in southern areas of the UK, while northern areas are more likely to hold onto drier conditions."
The warm weather is expected to continue until into the autumn.
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23 hours ago, Anti Facts Sir said:
"Everything we know...."
SHUT UP! Fucking REACH PLC turning our "news" into drivel.
As OP says, they've told us NOTHING.
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.
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On 5/29/2023 at 11:58 PM, SimonTV said:
It being so cheap is why we saw generic ivermectin and HCQ factories around the world burn to the ground in 2020 as the fake pandemic was starting. If there was a steady supply of ivermectin and HCQ they never would have got emergency approval because one of the requirements for emergency approval was that there was no alternative treatments available. This is why pharma and the media did a huge hate campaign against ivermectin and HCQ as being useless horse products because if they had not, they would not have made half a trillion selling mrna poison injections.
Crazy thing is even now, I still can't buy ivermectin in the UK. The hold the pharma and government put on alternative treatments must still be in place because the only way to get is it to import it from another country at high cost. Which comes without the boxes or documents, just loose tablets.
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'.
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Fiat launches scrappage scheme to help EV buyers
QuoteFiat has launched its own electric car grant to help buyers reduce the cost of switching to one of its EVs.
The Government’s plug-in car grant ended nearly 12 months ago, with that scheme previously offering up to £1,500 off the price of a new electric vehicle. However, Fiat has doubled this amount with £3,000 available to buyers of its 500e or 500e Convertible models.
Called the Fiat E-Grant, it’s a scheme which will allow Fiat’s electric models to undercut many of their rivals on price, with the 500’s after-grant price of £25,195 meaning that it’ll prove to be much cheaper than many other similarly-sized electric vehicles on sale.
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
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Solar panels are only efficient when the sun is shining in a cloudless sky.
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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
QuoteThe sun is set to shine this weekend as parts of the West Midlands are set to reach 22 degrees. The hot weather comes with a warning that high pollen is expected in the area.
Hay fever sufferers have been advised to prepare for this ahead of time. The Met Office has predicted that Saturday, June 3, will be the hotter day this weekend.
Worcestershire is expected to reach 22 degrees while Birmingham City Centre is not far behind at 21 degrees. A spokesperson for the Met Office has warned that hot weather can be dangerous.
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'...
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BREAKING NEWS: UK now "hotter than Australia" - media using weather as propaganda
in Environment & Climate
Posted
What you have to remember is that the UK as a whole does NOT experience the same temperatures everywhere at the same time.
It may reach 40C in one specific part of Lincolnshire, but that doesn't mean its the same in Stornoway or Orkney or even St Austell.
Anyway, as is the point of this thread, it gets "very hot" every year at around this time, and while some 'highs' may be a little unprecedented, the whole of the UK is not the same temperature.
This is just climate-change alarmism - "media using weather as propaganda".