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Mailman,
Once again Monty Python anticipated 50 years into the future. They had a spoof show called Spot the Brain Cell, and now the BBC presents that very challenge: let's ask two remarkably stupid people for commentary on world events.

BTW, I listen to BBC's FooC, and it always starts with: this podast is supported by advertising outside the UK. Maybe it's time the BBC was touting for advertisers for inside the UK too.

tomo,
At least they're anticipating the continued existence of *women* in 2039. Warnings about a dystopian *future* seem unnecessary given how the present is going.

Somewhat related, apparently our ABC is having a go at The Office. I had limited tolerance for the Ricky Gervais version, could never sit through the Steve Carell version, but I'm confident the Aussie one will be the definitive unwatchable variation on the theme.

Sep 24, 2024 at 12:26 AM | Unregistered CommenterRobert Swan

Mailman

see what the same arseclowns are up to in Bristol:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/new-dystopian-bbc-drama-start-9574263?int_source=nba

- but yeah, the dim bint Spring jand her equally dim colleagues just keep pumping kerrapp....

Sep 23, 2024 at 11:42 PM | Registered Commentertomo

https://x.com/BBCWorld/status/1837809994462298416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

To think, we are forced under pain of imprisonment to fund these assclowns!

Sep 23, 2024 at 5:54 PM | Unregistered CommenterMailman

tomo,
Fully agree on the strange changes to cam indexing, and that wet belts are an abomination. I thought that video got a bit tenuous on the overheating->retarded ignition->degradation story, but the debris in the sump is damning and widely known.

I think we're already well past the point where cars are *good* *enough*. Compared with cars of the '70s say, for the last 15 years or so, modern cars have been faster than Ferraris, quieter than Rolls Royces, more economical than Minis, and run cleaner than Toyotas. The market has already found an optimal point, but between big business and big government there's a constant push for "disruptors", and that's where stupid un-features like wet belts and auto-engine-stop come from. The supposed savings are more than offset by the added costs.

On the lawyers, there's no choice about a trial when people are sent to prison. Even with a supine legal-aid defence barrister instructed to give a guilty plea, the *judge* has to be satisfied that the charge was merited. That's the failing I level at the British system. The judges failed very badly.

(fully agree that many lawyers capitalise on their gatekeeping role and live very comfortably from doling out boilerplate documents. Maybe a suitable opening for ChatGPT)

I certainly wasn't aware that the Aus. e-Safety Commissioner was American, or that she had been courted by the CIA. I think I had heard about her tie-in with Microsoft. That CIA factoid is an odd one though. It's not the sort of thing the CIA is noted for publicising, so how do we hear about it?

Of course the whole notion of an e-Safety Commissioner is a silly one. An e-Danger Commissioner would make more sense, forever warning us of the risks of sharing stuff on the net. That's what they do with alcohol and cigarettes, but apparently we need a Tzar of some sort when it comes to Facebook and Twitter.

In other links around the place, quite enjoyed this video on tyre wear, especially the graphic near the beginning showing how tyres will wear even on entirely straight running.

And this item on scams was an enjoyable read. Climate only got one bullet point; deserved more.

This spray by Whitney Webb was a bit intense, but I do credit her point about being wary of worrying so much about attacks on freedom from the left that we fail to notice attacks on freedom from the right (resist COVID passports, then cheer on similar measures ostensibly to limit illegal immigration). Same people using different lines to sell the same goods.

Put me in mind of this great old show which often tumbled when the contestant was given a "no" question after successfully defending against a string of "yes"es.

Sep 23, 2024 at 12:31 AM | Unregistered CommenterRobert Swan

Is this common knowledge in Oz?

https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1837324870872399974

Sep 22, 2024 at 2:00 PM | Registered Commentertomo

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XmSykQdr1F0?feature=share

Sep 21, 2024 at 12:44 PM | Registered Commentertomo

Robert

just on the engine part - many recent engines have stopped positively locating timed components (keys / splines etc.) and opted for a press fit - youtube is heaving with maintainers of all stripes giving it "WTAF is that?"

I quite enjoy https://www.youtube.com/@DavesAutoCenterCenterville


The chocolate spoon award though is to wet timing belts
https://youtu.be/0SASSFjIt5I

On the fraud front - it's clear to me that very, very few lawyers want to go to court, preferring to keep billing for prodigious amounts of waffle - misdirection via mountains of redundant detail is a common defence strategy. A trial lawyer with a passion for taxidermy of wrongdoers is an *exceeding* rare beast.

Sep 21, 2024 at 11:39 AM | Registered Commentertomo

tomo,
I didn't know fraud cases had a reputation for being "hard". Fair enough that conspiracy cases are difficult, since you have to prove an intention to do a thing that never actually happened. According to Wikipedia:

more than 900 subpostmasters were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting...
The courts should have required that each of those cases be backed up by concrete evidence.

False accounting seems a difficult one to escape. The *real* false accounting was down to Fujitsu's software (anyone been charged yet?), but the subpostmasters who made up shortfalls out of their own funds were doing a very magnanimous form of false accounting.


Here's something different: a one-minute overview of timing chain replacement on a 4-cylinder GM Colorado. Overview was one minute, job might take a bit longer, especially if you allow for time spent in a padded cell.

Sep 19, 2024 at 11:39 PM | Unregistered CommenterRobert Swan

@Mailman

No exploding Labour MPs (wishful thinking....). But did catch on youtube a video of the Labour MP for Aldershot entering a local pub at the weekend, being roundly jeered and retreating from said pub. This could be a new meme for Labour MPs, perhaps we should refer to it as being starmered.

Sep 19, 2024 at 9:14 AM | Unregistered CommenterDaveS

Fraud

In English law there are flavours of fraud.

One that concerned me (in detail) is "conspiracy to defraud". There is no requirement there to prove any pecunary benefit from the deeds done. The offence is defined as two or more persons acting in concert to deny another person(s) things they are legitimately / lawfully entitled to.

It's part of establishment flim-flammery that "fraud cases are hard".

Sometimes judges just busk it (archive)

I know of one case where the judge allowed (indulged, even) HMRC officials to commit perjury.

https://justice.org.uk/jury-trial-serious-fraud/

Sep 19, 2024 at 8:30 AM | Registered Commentertomo

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