This cost cutting ruse needs to be immediately sunk:


Be less squeamish about drinking sewage water, says expert {sponsor}
wrote:

People need to be 'less squeamish' about drinking water taken from sewage treatment plants, the head of the Environment Agency has said.

Water companies are planning "toilet-to-tap" systems, also known as water recycling, to turn sewage from lavatories into drinking water by treating it...

We had similar profiteering that caused the BSE crisis in farm animals...

We repeatedly have pollution from untreated sewage 'escaping/bypassing' the clean up systems...

What fail-safe guarantees will we get?

Closed loop systems are notoriously unhealthy...

What water will the water board bosses be drinking?...


This is one that we need to head off now before the inevitable breakdowns in properly treating such effluent... There's a lot more than just human waste going down those sewers (for which we have no treatments other than dumping into the sea)...

One to harangue your MPs about!


Drink safely?
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Closed loop systems are notoriously unhealthy...

Welcome to living on a planet where all loops are closed.

BTW the ISS seems to do fine with toilet to tap.

... BTW the ISS seems to do fine with toilet to tap.

You can bet the UK water companies are not going to roll out the ISS tech!...


We'll be lucky with just a bit of gravel and sand to clean up the stuff if it doesn't rain too hard...

... And our water companies are already skimping on even doing that!


Stay safe folks...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

We'll be lucky with just a bit of gravel and sand to clean up the stuff if it doesn't rain too hard...

Isn't that up to your muppets to ensure?

For a deadly 'compromise'...


Smart motorways: Lack of hard shoulder contributed to death - coroner
wrote:

The lack of a hard shoulder on a stretch of smart motorway ... contributed to the death of a grandmother, a coroner has ruled.Mother-of-five Nargus Begum, 62, had got out of a Nissan Qashqai, which was being driven by her husband, after it broke down on the M1 in September 2018. A Mercedes [then] collided with the stationary car, causing it to plough into her.

Senior Coroner Nicola Mundy said the fact no drivers reported the stranded car had also contributed to her death.

Recording a conclusion of "road traffic collision", she told Doncaster Coroner's Court on Friday that the drivers of 153 vehicles had passed the vehicle before the crash without alerting National Highways...

... was stranded on the live inside lane and went undetected for 16 minutes and 21 seconds before the crash...

... concern that many members of the public appear to wrongly believe that the dozens of cameras which are in place on smart motorways were being constantly monitored by control room staff. She said one witness told the inquest he did not report the stationary Nissan because he believed it would be picked up by the cameras. A number of National Highways directors and employees, including chief executive Nick Harris, told the coroner this was not practicable and the coroner asked whether more could be done to educate the public about this fact...

So... It was the 154th vehicle that smashed into the broken down vehicle...

The cameras on the "smart" motorways (freeways) here are very prominent. This is news to me that they are not monitored!

That suggests our so called 'smart' motorways are not smart at all for any safety!


How did we let death trap sneak in?...

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

The cameras on the "smart" motorways (freeways) here are very prominent. This is news to me that they are not monitored!

Also quite a number of the cameras are out of order at any given time, indeed at some key points on the network the majority of cameras are out of service. That's a real double wamy - nobody is looking and if they were all they would see is a blank screen.....

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

... concern that many members of the public appear to wrongly believe that the dozens of cameras which are in place on smart motorways were being constantly monitored by control room staff. She said one witness told the inquest he did not report the stationary Nissan because he believed it would be picked up by the cameras. A number of National Highways directors and employees, including chief executive Nick Harris, told the coroner this was not practicable and the coroner asked whether more could be done to educate the public about this fact...

Wasn't one of the safety selling points, justifying the introduction of smart motorways in the first place, that they would be covered and monitored by cameras and control rooms - so that problems like this one would be detected and safeguarded by lane closures quickly.

How many of the parts of that justification have been abandoned in the reality of austerity implementation?

Is that the case here and who were the site engineers and where were they at the time?

1 dead, up to 3 injured after bridge collapses while under construction.

There certainly didn't look like much support was put under that pour to support that sort of load.

Must have that extra dollar
The excuses used to get it.

What does it take to get the dirty oil companies to clean up their mess?


Peru: 'Conditions deteriorating' on detained tourist boat
wrote:

Around 70 tourists on a river boat in Peru have been detained by an indigenous group as part of a protest against a recent oil spill...

... The tourists are not thought to have been harmed. They have been held since Thursday morning. Activists from the Cuninico community released a statement earlier in the week saying that from midnight on 1 November, no boats or vessels would be able to pass.

"We demand that the government talks to the Cuninico community or face consequences - the ultimate responsibility lies with the President of the Republic [Pedro del Castillo]", the statement read...

... The oil spill that sparked the protest from Cuninico's indigenous community happened on 16 September, and protests began later that month.

Are there not various reports and examples of how the oil companies run their pipelines until they corrode into leaking before bothering with any maintenance?...

... And similarly not bothering to clean up the poisonous mess...?


All a very dirty 'game'?...

All very greedily on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Are there not various reports and examples of how the oil companies run their pipelines until they corrode into leaking before bothering with any maintenance?...

Yes, aided and abetted by "locals" drilling and cutting into pipelines to get at the oil, but not bothering to stop it spewing out, and the oil companies looking the other way.

---

Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Are there not various reports and examples of how the oil companies run their pipelines until they corrode into leaking before bothering with any maintenance?...

Yes, aided and abetted by "locals" drilling and cutting into pipelines to get at the oil, but not bothering to stop it spewing out, and the oil companies looking the other way.

The spilled oil is cheaper than sending a repair crew.

They'll be sending child sweeps up chimneys next.

They'll be sending child sweeps up chimneys next.

They can't do that, 'cause it will lead to some more 'Black Boys lanes' (Harringay) or even villages (Sussex*)

*Home to one of my great grandparents.

Who would have guessed?...


China ... Angry protests at giant iPhone factory in Zhengzhou
wrote:

... Manufacturer Foxconn said it would work with staff and local government to prevent further violence.

In its statement, the firm said some workers had doubts about pay but that the firm would fulfil pay based on contracts.

It also described as "patently untrue" rumours that new recruits were being asked to share dormitories with workers who were Covid-positive.

Dormitories were disinfected and checked by local officials before new people moved in, Foxconn said.

Last month, rising Covid cases saw the site locked down, prompting some workers to break out and go home. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses.

Footage shared on a livestreaming site showed workers shouting: "Defend our rights! Defend our rights!"

Other workers were seen smashing surveillance cameras and windows with sticks.

"They changed the contract so that we could not get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don't provide food," said one Foxconn worker...

"Worker" or slave or meat for the industrial meat grinder?...

All in an overly greedy world...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

How can the railways management/franchises get this so badly wrong?

What excuses??...


Northern England's poor rail services caused by toxic mix, MPs told
wrote:

"Unstable" rail services in northern England have been caused by a "toxic combination" of issues, MPs have heard...

... a "total letdown" for rail passengers...

... relationships between staff and management "don't seem to be good and need resetting in some way"...

... "There has been a total letdown with unreliable services, not being able to get tickets, not knowing whether services are going to run, and also getting that information out."...

... the firm's sickness levels were "running at about double of normal rates", with some depots being "up at 14% or so"...

... he was in favour of "breaking the railway's dependence on rest-day working altogether", as "no modern and successful business relies on the goodwill of its staff to deliver for its customers"...

... the government was "closely monitoring" the firm's roll-out of its recovery plan and would "hold the franchise to account".

Is there an "old game" there of relying on abusing the 'goodwill' of staff to abandon their lives with no days off work for the sake of profits for the franchise?...

Would you trust your life to unhappy, unhealthy, zombied railways staff?...


All in our deadly greedy world,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Sounds very similar to what the US rail-workers are complaining / want to strike about.

...Is there an "old game" there of relying on abusing the 'goodwill' of staff to abandon their lives with no days off work for the sake of profits for the franchise?...

Would you trust your life to unhappy, unhealthy, zombied railways staff?...

This is rather unusual:


Berlin's giant AquaDom hotel aquarium containing 1,500 fish explodes
wrote:

A giant aquarium containing a million litres of water in the lobby of the Radisson Blu in Berlin has burst, flooding the hotel and nearby streets.

The "AquaDom" - home to 1,500 tropical fish - is 15.85m high (52 ft) and was described as the largest free-standing cylindrical aquarium in the world.

Two people were injured by falling glass ...

Someone missed out on the safety "What-If"s for that one...

That's an example of exactly why Musk was not allowed to use his sky high liquid methane tanks without suitable protection against failure (by including secondary containment).


At a guess...

• Was differential thermal expansion/contraction not fully considered?
  
  
• Or uneven settling causing warping stresses to accumulate...?
  
  
• Or inadequate consideration for surviving an earth tremor?
  

The timing of early in the morning suggests thermal change as being contributory...


Poor frozen dead fish!

Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)