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Monday Links from the Bench vol. CCXXXII

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    Monday Links from the Bench vol. CCXXXII

    Monday again already? Doesn't time fly
    • Old BBC Radio Broadcasting Equipment and Memories: The War Years - As the 70th anniversary of D Day has just passed, here’s a load of interesting stuff about how the BBC reported the Second World War: ”One of the recording engineers was A. E. Windsor, who had been on a short visit back to base in London and was returning the following day. Unfortunately, my colleague on the shift before me had sent out a message to MCO3 to the effect that "Winnie was coming out tomorrow so look out for him". What none of us knew was that Winston Churchill himself was, on the following day, also going to be in the recording trucks' area to visit the troops! Within moments there was a dark limousine at the front door and three dark-suited gentlemen descended upon the operator…”

    • The game developer, the CIA, and the sculpture driving them crazy - Profile of Elonka Dunin, who has become an authority on the CIA’s cryptographic sculpture Kryptos, and is one of the few non-CIA personnel to have been allowed to visit it: ”Faced with guns, Dunin and her cousin decided they would try and talk their way in. "We said, 'Hey, we're just here to see Kryptos,'" she laughs. "The guards relaxed and said, 'Fine: official business only.' We thought, what if we get an invitation from our senator? 'Nope, official business only.' Is there a public tour day? 'No, sorry - official business only.’… What she needed, then, was some official business.”

    • How mistakes can save lives: one man’s mission to revolutionise the NHS - "After the death of his wife following a minor operation, airline pilot Martin Bromiley set out to change the way medicine is practised in the UK – by using his knowledge of plane crashes." Warning: it’s at the New Statesman, for those of you who don’t want to be spotted reading that

    • Camopedia - "The Camopedia site is a living document, providing a comprehensive, accurate, and academically-supported database referencing all of the major military and paramilitary camouflage patterns that have been in use around the world since the beginning of the 20th century."

    • Secrets Of The Circle Line - "Geoff Marshall, the Guinness World Record holder for visiting all stations on the Underground in one day, turns his eye to the Circle Line. Discover hidden platforms, little-known shortcuts and a memorial to a deceased station cat." I’m a bit behind on Geoff’s “Secrets of…” videos, but there are links to all of them so far along with this one


    • Apologies From A Man Leaving The Games Industry - Thoughts on leaving Official Xbox Magazine: ”TL:DR; I tulip on my balls in Austria, I’m sorry, and am going to run a pub in Nottingham.”

    • The 'Rock Star' of the Submarine World Just Turned 50 - A look at Alvin, the famous sub: ”It recovered a hydrogen bomb that was lost in the Mediterranean after a mid-air plane collision. It helped to discover previously unknown life forms congregating around hydrothermal vents off the Galapagos Islands… Most famously it explored the wreckage of the Titanic. ”

    • The day I left my son in the car - Kim Brooks revisits a topic that was the subject of an article I linked to back in January: ”I noted that it was a mild, overcast, 50-degree day. I noted how close the parking spot was to the front door, and that there were a few other cars nearby… And then I did something I’d never done before. I left him. I told him I’d be right back. I cracked the windows and child-locked the doors and double-clicked my keys so that the car alarm was set. And then I left him in the car for about five minutes.”

    • The (Not Really So Very) Incorrupt Corpses - ”People ask me about incorrupt corpses at parties… Usually they were touring some gorgeous old church in Europe when they noticed a musty old corpse on display in between the Caravaggios and gilded putti. The guidebook said it was an incorrupt saint whose body never decomposed, but it sure looked a little… off.” Elizabeth Harper explains how such relics usually aren’t all they seem.

    • Sweetie Papers - Ayrshire History has an excellent collection of 1970s wrappers from sweets, ice lollies, crisps, and so on - not a barcode in sight



    Happy invoicing!

    #2
    Interesting about the "kid in the car" one - especially that the whole thing came about because someone saw the kid, took a photo and reported it but didn't do anything to try and help the child - if she were a neglectful drug-addled mother then in the time it took the police to do anything, she could have left the kid in the car another dozen times!
    Originally posted by MaryPoppins
    I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
    Originally posted by vetran
    Urine is quite nourishing

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by d000hg View Post
      Interesting about the "kid in the car" one - especially that the whole thing came about because someone saw the kid, took a photo and reported it but didn't do anything to try and help the child - if she were a neglectful drug-addled mother then in the time it took the police to do anything, she could have left the kid in the car another dozen times!
      But reading it she does come across as having the attitude 'whats the point it wasnt that bad'. A bit heavy handed admitedly but like the article says loads of kids die in cars every year.

      As the Dad of a one-year old I think I'm scarred for life after having read the original article a few months back. Especially the descriptions of what happens.

      I'm sure the parents involved in these incidents would be more than happy if they'd been charged and got a slap on the wrist but they're kids were still alive. Rather than be dead and responsible for their death.
      Rhyddid i lofnod psychocandy!!!!

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by psychocandy View Post
        But reading it she does come across as having the attitude 'whats the point it wasnt that bad'.
        But I think she's right. She seems to have perhaps hurt her chances by refusing to capitulate and break down in tears about what a dreadful thing she did and would never ever do it again, on principle.

        Of course the authorities don't initially have any way to tell if she is a negligent mother who does this all the time, or made a careful rational decision to do it once. And I can see it sends a mixed message if some people get off for "leaving their kid in the car" which is the headline hiding the true facts.
        Originally posted by MaryPoppins
        I'd still not breastfeed a nazi
        Originally posted by vetran
        Urine is quite nourishing

        Comment

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