Early Risers.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Right Bear I'm on my way for sanding party. Weathers turned a 'tad wet aka p*&£#+g down' so I'm now free to provide my sanding services.

 

Two requirements or rather two and a half really.

 

Firstly and most important DD aka Devil Dog requires access to nearby open space frequented by male dogs on leads so that she terrorise them and secondly plentiful supply of decent pizza- happy with Co-op. Oh and the half not into the alcohol thing but a drop of slim line tonic with a splash of summer fruits would go down well.

 

See you soon.

 

Great timing, that - since a certain Bear pronounced sanding completed several days ago.

Pah.

And you can tell DD I'm scoffin' all the Pizza.  Oodles of it.

 

2 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

Frameworks Main shop

 

 

Frameworks other shop

 

David

 

Now that's Bear's kinda Shop.......

 

In other news.....

All afternoon logging into various sites to check/change email addresses as required.  At least it's done now - though there are no doubt others of lesser importance still lurkin' out there.  I'll trawl saved emails tomorrow (and there's a lot of them - and some) to look for more.  A Google suggests the ISP does allow retention of my email address at no cost now, though I'd have to be careful to tell them when (and if) I tell them to p0ke their Broadband service.

 

And finally.....

 

FFS:

 

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled.

Two fans of the actress Ana de Armas filed a lawsuit in January after renting the 2019 film Yesterday.

The actress was seen in the trailer, but the pair were disappointed to find she had been cut from the final film.

The plaintiffs, Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza, each paid $3.99 (£3.31) to rent Yesterday on Amazon Prime.

Woulfe and Rosza are seeking at least $5 million (£4.1m) from Universal in the case, which has been filed as a class action on behalf of other disappointed fans.

The pair argued they would not have paid the money to rent the film if they had known the actress did not feature in it.

 

[Ian Abel]

26 minutes ago, polybear said:

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled.

Two fans of the actress Ana de Armas filed a lawsuit in January after renting the 2019 film Yesterday.

The actress was seen in the trailer, but the pair were disappointed to find she had been cut from the final film.

The plaintiffs, Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza, each paid $3.99 (£3.31) to rent Yesterday on Amazon Prime.

Woulfe and Rosza are seeking at least $5 million (£4.1m) from Universal in the case, which has been filed as a class action on behalf of other disappointed fans.

The pair argued they would not have paid the money to rent the film if they had known the actress did not feature in it.

I continue to live in hope that one day folks will be able to file lawsuits for "stupid"! These two are second I think behind the idiot lady who filed a lawsuit because the coffee SHE SPILLED in her lap was served too hot in a McD drive-through!

[BoD]

19 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

I continue to live in hope that one day folks will be able to file lawsuits for "stupid"! These two are second I think behind the idiot lady who filed a lawsuit because the coffee SHE SPILLED in her lap was served too hot in a McD drive-through!

Didn’t she win though?

[PeterBB]

55 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

FFS:

 

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled.

Two fans of the actress Ana de Armas filed a lawsuit in January after renting the 2019 film Yesterday.

The actress was seen in the trailer, but the pair were disappointed to find she had been cut from the final film.

The plaintiffs, Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza, each paid $3.99 (£3.31) to rent Yesterday on Amazon Prime.

Woulfe and Rosza are seeking at least $5 million (£4.1m) from Universal in the case, which has been filed as a class action on behalf of other disappointed fans.

The pair argued they would not have paid the money to rent the film if they had known the actress did not feature in it.

 

Hopefully this will be thrown out or rather not even reach the courts - a refund plus a gratuity might be in order but $5 million.  What is the USA becoming if it even considers such ludicrously ridiculous try-ons.

[Coombe Barton]

... Yeah – people have listened before – not. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/12/23/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-27-taking-notice-probably-not/

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

 

All is still calm and bright here.  The Boss has settled down and now confirmed that no further action is needed on the Sainsbury's delivery saga.  What really peeves her is that we are between two stores and can't pick where our shopping comes from. If it comes from the one she worked at we never get any problems but when it comes from THE OTHER ONE there is always some sort of issue...like today. 

Never mind, we won't go hungry or thirsty over the next few days, unlike some poor souls.

Pleasant surprise earlier as Abbie and boyfriend James popped in to deliver all the family Christmas presents for us and others.  Place now looks like a warehouse!  They were on their way to get tattooed.  Abs has got a couple of small discreet ones and aims to keep it that way.  (She knows my feelings, don't mind small ones but hate them too large or on the face and neck)  James is a roofer and a bit of a lad but surprisingly (to me anyway) this will be his first one.  He is what I would describe as a likeable rogue but adores my granddaughter.  He also seems to like me ever since I told him that as long as he looked after her and treated her right we would be friends!  Always greets me with a massive bear hug, he is a big strong lad. (and has done a bit of boxing and cage fighting)  If he ever does upset her I know I'm well past the stage where I could take him out so would have engage a "contractor."  😂   Pretty sure that that won't be necessary, from what he's told me he'd die for her.

I think a second glass of Malbec is called for.

 

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by grandadbob

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

I continue to live in hope that one day folks will be able to file lawsuits for "stupid"! These two are second I think behind the idiot lady who filed a lawsuit because the coffee SHE SPILLED in her lap was served too hot in a McD drive-through!

 

The most they should be entitled to is $3.99 - and no, they can't claim legal costs.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled.

 

 

 

To quote Lionel Hutz, dodgy lawyer in The Simpsons:

 

"This is the most blatant case of false advertising since my suit against the movie The Neverending Story."

Edited December 23, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

These two are second I think behind the idiot lady who filed a lawsuit because the coffee SHE SPILLED in her lap was served too hot in a McD drive-through!

I thought the jurors and judge in Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants made a proper decision.

 

McDonalds had been frequently warned that their scalding hot coffee was too dangerous for drive-through service  - plaintiff's counsel presenting evidence:

Quote

"that from 1982 to 1992 the company had received more than 700 reports of people burned by McDonald's coffee"

 

The plaintiff* was 79 years old at the time of the accident and incurred third degree burns. She was hospitalized for eight days and required skin grafts. She was permanently disfigured and was partially disabled for two years. McDonalds initially offered $800 in compensation in lieu of her $10,500 in medical expenses. (She initially asked for $20,000.)

 

* Who was born in Norwich - yes in England.

 

The following is worth noting, based on all the hyperbolic (and misleading) press coverage.

Quote

[The court] awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced by 20 percent to $160,000. In addition, they awarded her $2.7 million in punitive damages. According to The New York Times, the jurors arrived at this figure from Morgan's suggestion to penalize McDonald's for two days of coffee revenues, about $1.35 million per day.

 

The judge reduced punitive damages to $480,000, three times the compensatory amount, for a total of $640,000. The decision was appealed by both McDonald's and Liebeck in December 1994, but the parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Added initial suit

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

Didn’t she win though?

Did she though?

 

She died 12 years after the burn accident.

Quote

According to her daughter, "the burns and court proceedings (had taken) their toll" and in the years following the settlement Liebeck had "no quality of life". She said the settlement had paid for a live-in nurse.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Film studio Universal can be sued for false advertising after fans complained a movie trailer was misleading, a US judge has ruled.

Two fans of the actress Ana de Armas filed a lawsuit in January after renting the 2019 film Yesterday.

The actress was seen in the trailer, but the pair were disappointed to find she had been cut from the final film.

...

The pair argued they would not have paid the money to rent the film if they had known the actress did not feature in it.

1 hour ago, PeterBB said:

Hopefully this will be thrown out or rather not even reach the courts - a refund plus a gratuity might be in order but $5 million.  What is the USA becoming if it even considers such ludicrously ridiculous try-ons.

Understand that the only recourse to stop dodgy (but not strictly illegal) corporate behaviour is to seek punitive damages.  The intent here is to send a message to the entertainment industry that false advertising with unrepresentative trailers* is unacceptable. The only way to do this is to hit them where it hurts - by punitive damages.

 

* An increasing trend

 

Compensatory damages in the this case are meaningless. 

 

Ask the questions:

• Is misleading advertising acceptable?
• Who is representing the plaintiff?
• Who is paying for plaintiff's counsel?
• Why did counsel accept the case?

Yes there is a long tradition of ambulance chasers and lawyers taking pro-bono cases to make a name for themselves (and substantial cash along the way.) Those might not be the only reasons.

 

In many cases, (particularly in the political space which I won't discuss here) the named plaintiff is in effect a proxy for some special interest.

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Understand that the only recourse to stop dodgy (but not strictly illegal) corporate behaviour is to seek punitive damages.  The intent here is to send a message to the entertainment industry that false advertising with unrepresentative trailers* is unacceptable. The only way to do this is to hit them where it hurts - by punitive damages.

 

 

 

Not sure if its a recent trend or simply more blatant but  "making sh!t up" -  telling blatant falsehoods and making misleading statements without any repercussions seems to  have crept up  on us and seems to be everywhere now. Most obviously in politics ( not just talking about a certain ex-presidents endless stream of falsehoods and outright dodgy statements, similar occurred here in the 2019 election when one side started a scare campaign that the other was about to introduce death taxes, based on absolutely no proof whatsoever but arguably won them the election).

 

Biggest perpetrators here have been the mining and energy sectors, any perceived risk to their massive profits in the form  of any increased taxation unleashes a firestorm of advertising portraying themselves as just a bunch of Aussie blokes (and ladies) in hi-vis gear, driving bloody big trains and  trucks around the outback  whose jobs are at imminent risk, rather than the reality that they are a bunch of faceless men (and ladies)  in boardrooms in  Perth or Europe or Asia who could easily soak up the extra outgoings but think they shouldn't have to.  The current government has been the first to actually call their bluff in the face of threats of a huge misleading advertising campaign when the government announced a cap on domestic gas sale prices* and finally shown the energy industry up to be all mouth and no trousers. 

 

So basically, I reckon good on anyone who confronts the dodginess of corporations and  government statements and advertising no matter how stupid-sounding.  If we let them get away with the trivial, we'll end up living in a world where those in charge  of what we can do and what we can buy will say whatever they like without any repurcussions.

 

Oh, we do already. Australian on the whole have pretty well developed bullsh1t detectors but they are getting increasingly tested. 

 

 

*(in order to halt  the rise of domestic energy prices paid by customers so in essence they threatened to start an advertising campaign to  convince us to pay higher power bills so their massive profits can get bigger!) 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Apart from the odd grumble Arthur Itis has been quiet today though opening my parcel and stashing the contents away made my joints ache unless I sat down for a few minutes. Now to get down to Farcebook which I've ignored for the last few days.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Busy day here, delivered a few presents and went down to Newark to see the family’s. It’s nieces birthday today so we went out for lunch. Dropped a few more presents off on the way home.

Tomorrow will be REALLY busy. SWMBO has done NO Christmas baking or preparation for the Christmas dinner.

Still got Sydney.

Goodnight.

Robert

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

... they are a bunch of faceless men in boardrooms in  Europe or Asia who could easily soak up the extra outgoings but think they shoulnd't have to.

As Aussie as Mount Isa Mines (subsidiary of Glencore plc - a Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas head office is in London and its registered office is in Saint Helier, Jersey)

 

As Aussie as Rio Tinto (Headquartered in London).

 

As Aussie as BHP* (headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, ... with sales and marketing led through our Singapore location)

 

* Which people probably still think is in NSW.

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

The weather here settled down a bit overnight. At almost 2:00pm it's still -3°C and there hasn't been any precipitation, at least since I surfaced, late, this morning.

 

It was the coldest night in a long time and despite the thermostat maintaining 60°F / 15°C overnight, a smoke detector decided that 3:00am was the right time to begin the battery alarm. After replacing the battery it took me a couple of hours to get back to sleep.

 

We didn't have much in the way of freezing rain - there is a little bit of ice on branches but mostly there was 10 - 20mm of accumulated crunchy sleet on paved surfaces. It was softer, deeper and more snow-like under trees and, weirdly, on the larger roads (that I suspect had deicer liquid applied). Grassy surfaces look like there was a only a trace of snow.

 

Freezing rain remains in the forecast. I am hoping for rain tomorrow to get rid of the ice. Time to outfit myself to check the mail.

 

(Later) EDIT:

No mail so far - checking 90 minutes after it is usually a sure thing. The box was iced shut. A thermos of hot water (and paper towel) remedied that. The NY Post Office may be engraved with:
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." but in practice it can be different. 

 

The light-sensitive battery candles are on an hour before sunset. Very little frozen rain, but it can look seasonal:

Edited December 23, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[polybear]

11 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

We didn't have much in the way of freezing rain - there is a little bit of ice on branches but mostly there was 10 - 20mm of accumulated crunchy sleet on paved surfaces. It was softer, deeper and more snow-like under trees and, weirdly, on the larger roads (that I suspect had deicer liquid applied). Grassy surfaces look like there was a only a trace of snow.

 

Freezing rain remains in the forecast. I am hoping for rain tomorrow to get rid of the ice. Time to outfit myself to check the mail.

 

There's video on the BBC website showing a guy throwing boiling water into the air and it immediately turns to snow.

Hopefully those in the worst of the weather will have enough sense to stay at home rather than adopting a "must get "home" to family for Chrimbo mentality; sadly I suspect that'll not be the case though

[TheQ]

Evening Awl,

Paddled to and from the MRC, heavy rain most of the day, 

Did very little muddling before a potential new member / purchaser of a retired club layout arrived, with son and grand son. I managed to persuade the layout to work enough for the grandson to drive a train up and down.

It looks like we have a sale though, it may require future work from me. As he wants a few electrical mods done.

 

On return Ben seemed happy to see me but was not bouncing around , he did take several more mouthfuls of his dinner though.

 

We had discussions on attendance on Tuesday, it looks like we'll have at least 3..

 

I have a muggacoffee to consume, then try to recover some sleep.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

There's video on the BBC website showing a guy throwing boiling water into the air and it immediately turns to snow.

@Ian Abel could probably do that for you.

 

There's probably hundreds of such videos on YouTube.

[Ozexpatriate]

26 minutes ago, polybear said:

Hopefully those in the worst of the weather will have enough sense to stay at home rather than adopting a "must get "home" to family for Chrimbo mentality.

Many thousands (millions?) of people will miss Christmas gatherings. Thousands of flights are cancelled today - I saw a report of 4,800* cancellations - 11% of total flights, with 7,200 delayed flights.

 

EDIT: 10 minutes later it was 5,000!

 

The Portland-area light rail services were suspended at 9:30am this morning - the pantograph ice cutters weren't cutting it, apparently.

 

A driver slid on ice and ended up on the UP mainline, where, yes her car was hit by a train. (I think it was here.) The driver escaped before the collision.

 

Many interstate highways are closed. The main interstate east of Portland (I-84) is closed. (There were ice-related fatal accidents there a couple of days ago.)

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Ian Abel]

41 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

@Ian Abel could probably do that for you.

 

There's probably hundreds of such videos on YouTube.

Indeed, been there, done that, AND, probably possible in the next couple of days.

Doesn't actually turn to snow, rather tiny ice crystals.

 

HOWEVER, that entails;

1) some numpty (yours truly) racing outside in stupidly cold temperatures

2) with a pan of boiling water - needs to be done as fast as possible for best effect

3) and chucking said pan contents into the air.

4) depending on wind speed/direction and a lack of planning for those parameters, can be a very chilling experience!

 

Not the BEST sequence of events to attempt once you're aging some, and there are slippery surfaces and steps to negotiate., WITH a pan of boiling water 🤪🤣

 

Best left to the young and foolish, though I HAVE done it a couple of times in the past.

Edited December 23, 2022 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Great timing, that - since a certain Bear pronounced sanding completed several days ago.

Pah.

And you can tell DD I'm scoffin' all the Pizza.  Oodles of it.

 

 

Well there's thanks for you. 

 

There i am offering to come to the aid of a fellow ER'er in his hour of need and what happens he shoots me down. You wait till i tell DD that she's not going to be visiting Bear Towers. I wouldn't like your chances Bear. And one other thing the pizza was for me not DD.

 

Well you'll not get another chance. I don't care how much pizza you have you've burnt your bridges now laddo.

[BSW01]

And relax.............

 

Good evening everyone 

 

Well I never actually made it to the butchers is morning, when I rounded the corner nearest to the butchers, I could see there was a big queue, probably about 25 - 30 people who were obviously collecting there Christmas orders. So, as I was just going to buy something on spec or that took my fancy and I didn’t actually have an order, I decided not to bother and just turned round and came straight back home. I then grabbed my car keys and went to the Trafford Centre instead, getting there for just after 10 o’clock. It was busy, but not as busy as I’d expected it to be, but as I had a list of things to get, I was on my way back home just after 1/4 to 11 o’clock. But my way home takes me past our small independent DIY shop and there was a space outside I could park up. So I stopped to get some more white primer for my 1/2 signal, as I’d finished what I’d got yesterday when I gave the signal it’s first coat. I then called in at the pharmacy to collect my prescription and was back home for 1/4 to 12, ready for a well earned muggertea. That’s it now for shopping, anything we haven’t got now can wait until the shops open again after Christmas. It started persisting it down as I was driving home, but as I wasn’t planning on going out again, it didn’t matter one jot. 

 

The afternoon was spent wrapping, bagging and tagging presents for Vickie, Ian and the rest of the family, as they’re all dropping by tomorrow to exchange presents. 

 

After tea, we opened a nice bottle of merlot and sat back and relaxed..............

[BSW01]

Goodnight all