Category: Bad News

Horrible, unpleasant stuff

Streets Of London

Bad News, Crime

“Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London;  I’ll show you something that’ll make you change your mind.”

Thus sang Ralph McTell in his hauntingly-mournful song back in the 1970s.  Modern-day London seems to be equally tragic:

London’s violent crime epidemic appears to show no sign of ending after another spate of brutal violence gripped the capital.

  • Man, 45, arrested on suspicion of murder 2.32am after woman, 28, [stabbed to death] in Brent
  • At 8.34pm, officers were called to Brent where man was shot with ‘machine gun’
  • Police were called to Deptford at 8.10pm where a 23-year-old man was stabbed
  • Just over a mile away another man was stabbed in Brent at around 10.20pm
  • At 3.36am a 27-year-old man was arrested in Old Kent Road after a third stabbing

Of course, the “machine gun” description will turn out to be false;  after all, machine-guns are banned in Britishland so that’s just not possible.

Then again, we have this little incident:

Follow the link for the full story.  Good grief.  I’m all for carrying knives on one’s person — I have two in my pockets as we speak — but sheesh… that’s a little (shall we say) aggressive.

I know that Dallas isn’t London (thank goodness), but I can’t help but think that people like our angry cyclist might be a little more restrained if they suspected that the guy in the car might be packing a .357 revolver… just a thought.

Everything Gives You Cancer

Bad News

The immortal words of Joe Jackson come to mind:

No amount of alcohol, sausage or bacon is safe according to cancer experts

Even small amounts of processed meats and booze increase the risk of a host of cancers outlined in World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) guidelines updated every decade.
The respected global authority has unveiled a 10-point plan to cut your risk of getting cancer by up to 40%.
Brits have been told to banish favourites such as ham, burgers and hot dogs from their diets by experts who say they are a direct cause of bowel cancer. Processed meats also cause people to be overweight which can trigger many more cancers.
But UK experts have disagreed with the draconian advice insisting the odd bacon sandwich “isn’t anything to worry about”.
The WCRF found boozing is directly linked to increased risk of six cancers and for the first time recommended sticking to water or unsweetened drinks. The report said: “Even small amounts of alcoholic drinks can increase the risk of some cancers. “There is no level of consumption below which there is no increase in the risk of at least some cancers.”
On processed meats it added that “no level of intake can confidently be associated with a lack of risk of bowel cancer”.
Cutting down on steaks and other red meat such as lamb and pork can reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

The WCRF’s 10-point health plan

  1. Be a healthy weight
  2. Be physically active
  3. Eat a diet rich in wholegrains, vegetables, fruit and beans
  4. Limit consumption of ‘fast foods’ and other processed foods high in fat, starches or sugars
  5. Limit consumption of red and processed meat
  6. Limit consumption of sugar sweetened drinks
  7. Limit alcohol consumption
    [last three omitted because irrelevant to my Readers, e.g. breastfeeding]

I guess I’m fucked, then.  Oh well.  Time for some BBQ brisket, Elgin sausage and sweet iced tea.  Or a steak & kidney pie, chips and a pint of London Pride?

If I’m gonna die, I want the doctors to exclaim at my post-mortem, “Bloody hell!  How did he last so long?”

 

There’s no link because the Mirror has the most irritating ads on the planet.  I went there so you don’t have to.  And fuck their “fair use” guidelines.

News Roundup

Bad News

1.) FrogPres Emanuel Macron and his Nana wife arrived in D.C. to meet with POTUS. I can only imagine what they’ll talk about, Macron being about the most pussified politician in Euroland — which is saying something. One thing’s for sure: Trump isn’t gonna grab this saggy old broad’s ass. (Incidentally, Macron is probably Over Here because they all hate him back in France.)

2.) Duchess Kate Wossname popped another sprog. As usual, the socialists are moaning that all babies should be born equal instead of being fifth in line to the throne of Britishland. Nobody cares about this except people like me, who think that all socialists should be flogged daily, and not just for being complete tools about the birth of a baby.

3.) Man runs the London Marathon in honor of his late father, then dies. So he died in honor of his dead father, but he wasn’t Japanese (in which case this might have made sense). One would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this story.

4.) Asswipe causes ruckus on an airliner, gets a Taser sandwich. A quick look at his mugshot should explain everything.

5.) A bunch of lesbians caught fire — oh wait, not lesbians but the Greek island of Lesbos. My bad; although you have to admit that the headline “Lesbos On Fire” could be misleading. Anyway, the “migrants” are revolting (I know: aren’t they all). Apparently they were attacked by a bunch of patriotic Greeks who are sick of all the crime and such that the”refugees” are bringing with them. (I’m not one of the above, but I can see why they might think this way.)

…and lastly:

6.) Women-only offices (so-called “coworking” spaces) are increasing in number because #MeToo or something. I have only one question to ask: could men create “men-only” work spaces to escape the bullshit that these ur-feminists bring to the workplace? Thought not. [200,000-word rant deleted]

That “Human” Touch

Bad News, Seen On Campus

Apparently some colleges can’t even get it right when it comes to acceptance letters:

Applicants to Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health were the latest anxiety-ridden group of young people to fall victim to an admissions glitch, when, in February 2017, the school accidentally sent offers of admission to 277 students then said the notices were sent in error about an hour later. But those students are just the latest in a string of others who have suffered the same fate. Schools ranging from Carnegie Mellon to Tulane have sent admissions notices in error. In 2009, the University of California-San Diego accidentally told 28,000 students they were admitted to the school, when in fact they were rejected.

Of course, the response from these blundering fools is of the “My bad!” shrugs, along with the inexcusable excuses:

The errors are likely the result of the most mundane of office problems: IT challenges.
“For some places you’re taking relatively young professionals, you’re putting them in roles where they don’t have an enormous amount of experience with business process,” Farrell said. “The other piece is that sometimes the systems on campus, the enterprise management systems, can be very complex and not terribly user-friendly.”

I’m sorry, but we as a society are way past the “Oh, the computer got it wrong” bullshit. I’m not a litigious kind of person, but this looks like a classic case of a huge class-action “pain and suffering” payout. Without some kind of financial penalty, the universities (all of whom include courses on “Computer Science” in their curricula) have absolutely no incentive to fix this situation. So the “complex, unfriendly enterprise management systems” won’t get fixed, nor will the “inexperienced young professionals” get fired; and prospective (fee-paying) students will continue to get shafted. (My suggestion:  every time a person gets a false acceptance letter, that student should be entitled to a full-boat, all-expenses-paid four-year scholarship at the offending college. That, I think, would get someone’s attention.)

All in all, however, this sorry experience will also provide school-leavers with an excellent foretaste of corporate indifference and inefficiency, an experience that should stand them in good stead in their future careers. When their lives can be fucked up by a “mail-merge” mistake, young people will see at firsthand just how unimportant they are to Global MegaCorp Inc. If that doesn’t melt the “snowflake” mentality, nothing will.

OMG Rocks?

Bad News, Seen On Campus

Wait… so schools are now advocating bringing rocks to a gunfight?

A Pennsylvania school district is arming classrooms with buckets of rocks as a last-ditch defense against mass shooters.
David Helsel, superintendent of the Blue Mountain School District in Schuylkill County, told ABC News on Friday that every elementary, middle and high school classroom in the district is stocked with a 5-gallon bucket full of river stones for students and teachers to pelt an armed intruder.
“We’ve been trying to be proactive just in case,” Mr. Helsel said. “How can you aim a gun if you’re being pelted with rocks?”

I’m not even going to touch the obvious stupidity in this strategy.

However, when just a week ago the Army put out a statement that new recruits are unable to throw hand grenades further than a few yards because so few fathers can be bothered to play catch with their sons these days… good grief, what a bunch of pussies.