The Off Topic Topic

[Sheilbh]

The London mound has closed after three days
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/marble-arch-mound-branded-2m-24641373

A £2 million new attraction is London has been closed just three days after a disastrous opening, with visitors branding it a 'slag heap' and a 'sh*t hill'.

[The Brain]

Was the Empire built on quitting?

[Josquius]

Also, why is it amazing that shooting is an Olympic event?

It seems a hold over from the old days when stuff like chess was.
It's very out of place as a activity of pure skill rather than physical prowess.

[Sheilbh]

Also, why is it amazing that shooting is an Olympic event?

It seems a hold over from the old days when stuff like chess was.
It's very out of place as a activity of pure skill rather than physical prowess.

Especially as we didn't take the chance in 2012 to include darts as an Olympic sport

[Savonarola]

The US Mint is releasing a series of "American Innovation Dollars" to honor innovations on a by-state basis.  New Hampshire's honors the first home video game console The Brown Box invented by Ralph Baer.  The obverse on all of them is the Statue of Liberty, and the reverses honor the innovation, in this case:

 

I thought that was great.  It's too bad that dollar coins aren't in widespread circulation in the United States.

[The Larch]

Also, why is it amazing that shooting is an Olympic event?

It seems a hold over from the old days when stuff like chess was.
It's very out of place as a activity of pure skill rather than physical prowess.

Chess was never at the Olympics.

[celedhring]

Tug-of-war was once a olympic sport. Now I would like to see that brought back. It would be a riot.

[Admiral Yi]

Tug-of-war was once a olympic sport. Now I would like to see that brought back. It would be a riot.

And if they ever lost the feed they could just broadcast a still photo with no noticeable change. 

[The Larch]

Just took a look at discontinued Olympic sports, out of curiosity. There are some pearls over there: Criquet! Polo! Lacrosse! Pelota!

[Maladict]

Also, why is it amazing that shooting is an Olympic event?

It seems a hold over from the old days when stuff like chess was.
It's very out of place as a activity of pure skill rather than physical prowess.

Chess was never at the Olympics.

Painting, writing and music were, for decades.

[Syt]

Tug-of-war was once a olympic sport. Now I would like to see that brought back. It would be a riot.

There were also Olympic competitions in poetry, architecture, painting ... e.g.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_competitions_at_the_1928_Summer_Olympics

[Josquius]

Shower thought of the day.

So in English we have a distinction between animals and meat. Cow/beef et al. Its well known this came about due to the Norman conquest and the regular folk seeing the animals whilst they're alive whilst the French speaking nobles see them on a plate.
I noticed another word we got from French that puts a new slant on this.
Pig/pork
Deer/venison
Human/CORPSE

The French are cannibals. Proven.

[Sheilbh]

Picking up on Syt's bit about the building in Vienna - I'm adding this to the list of unsympathetic restorations. I think this is the infrastructure equivalent of that Spanish woman restoring the picture of Christ

Highways England may have to reverse concreting of Victorian bridge arch
Agency must apply for retrospective planning permission after filling in railway arch in Cumbria


The maintenance of the bridge in Great Musgrave, Cumbria, is part of a nationwide plan to fill more than 100 Victorian rail structures. Photograph: HRE Group
Matthew Weaver
Wed 21 Jul 2021 18.01 BST
Last modified on Thu 22 Jul 2021 09.10 BST

The government's roads agency could be forced to remove hundreds of tonnes of concrete it used to fill in a Victorian railway arch in a project that was condemned as the first act of "cultural vandalism" in a nationwide plan.

Eden district council told Highways England (HE) this week that it needs to apply for retrospective planning permission for a scheme that involved pouring an estimated 1,000 tonnes of concrete and aggregate under the bridge at Great Musgrave, Cumbria, at the start of nationwide programme to infill scores of historic structures.

If planning is refused, the agency will be obliged to restore the bridge to its state before the infill began at the end of May.

In a letter to the council last year, HE argued that no planning permission was needed because the infill project was part of a maintenance programme. At the time the council raised no objection. But this week it confirmed that it had not given permission for the infill to proceed and that HE has confirmed its intention to seek retrospective planning permission.


A Victorian railway arch at Great Musgrave, Cumbria before it was filled in with concrete by Highways England in May and June Photograph: HRE Groups

Campaigners hope the move will frustrate the agency's plans to fill in more than 100 other Victorian rail structures, including a bridge in Saltash, Cornwall, designed by the pioneering Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

They also fear for the immediate future of two Victorian bridges in Dumfries and Galloway, which are also managed by HE, despite lying over the border in Scotland. The agency has been given the go-ahead to fill in bridges at Kirtlebridge and Lochanhead, again with no need for planning permission.

Graeme Bickerdike, a member of the HRE Group, an alliance of engineers and sustainable transport advocates campaigning to retain the historical railway estate as an asset, accused HE of "scaremongering" over the condition of such structures.

On Eden's decision to request planning permission, he said: "It will come as a relief to disfranchised stakeholders that they will belatedly get the opportunity to express their views on this unwarranted infilling scheme.

"The requirement for planning permission should have been recognised from the outset. Hundreds of tonnes of aggregate and concrete were used to bury the bridge, with no scrutiny of the heritage, environmental, ecological, transport and sustainable development implications."

When images of the Musgrave Bridge "repair" were first published, they provoked widespread condemnation. Civil engineers said it made them ashamed of their profession, and Richard Faulkner accused Highways England of "cultural vandalism" during a House of Lords debate earlier this month.

But the government has defended the decision. The transport minister, Charlotte Vere, said: "The structure was weak, potentially causing the bridge deck to fall suddenly ... Highways England made the decision to proceed on the grounds of public safety."

In response to concerns from Huw Merriman, chair of the Commons transport committee, Lady Vere said in letter earlier this month that HE initially had plans to fill in 115 structures, but alternative plans for 46 of these were now being considered.

On Wednesday, Bickerdike described Vere's portrayal of the Great Musgrave bridge as unsafe as "either a deliberate attempt to deceive or a demonstration of incompetence".

He pointed out that HE's own engineers noted that the bridge presented "no significant risk" and recommended repointing at a cost of £5,000 compared with the £124,000 cost of infilling.

He added: "I fear there is a malevolent force in the Department for Transport that wants to get rid of much of the historic railway estate as possible. It is pushing alongside HE's stifling culture of risk aversion and lack of understanding of historical railway structures."

Richard Marshall, HE's historical railways estate director, said: "The bridge was deteriorating, and no weight restriction was in place, meaning it could be used by vehicles of any weight. The support provided by infilling the arch removes the risk of the bridge deck failing."

He added: "Our work has preserved the structure. The bridge remains intact and supported. If the land and Eden River crossing issues get resolved, then we would be delighted to work with any rail groups and the local authority to remove the infill at no cost to them."[/b

[Tamas]

Never attribute to malevolence what you can explain with corruption. 124k for dumping a couple of truckloads of concrete over the bridge? Someone really pushed their pencil down hard on that one.

[Sheilbh]

Isn't corruption malevolent tho?

I'd say never attribute to corruption/malevolence what can be explained by incompetence